If you work with other musicians, you may well have been confronted by the scenario where you need to quickly establish the chords of your song and relay the information to other musicians or band members. Thankfully, there’s a simple language just for this purpose. It’s time to embrace the chord symbol.

Your experience with chord symbols will likely be informed by the instrument that you play.

Notable devotees include guitarists, who sometimes use a symbol format known as ‘tab’ (an abbreviation for tablature.) These symbols are designed to inform a guitarist where to place their fingers on a fretboard. Tab is unique to guitar-based instruments.

This is not our topic du jour, so we are keeping our brief wider, working with symbols that can be useful to all instrumentalists playing a harmonic instrument, particularly in a band or song context.

One of the wonderful things about the chord symbol, is that you can just scribble it on a piece of paper - tah-dah - instant song form!

But in the context of written music, with a melody, the symbol is usually written above the musical stave. You can also write more than one chord per bar, writing the symbol above the point in the bar where you want the chord to change.

So let’s begin by discussing major and minor chords, or triads.

If you see a single letter, such as A or C, this would indicate a straight chord of A major, or C major respectively. However, placing a small ‘m’ after the chord name, denotes a switch to a minor chord. Hence Am or Cm becomes A minor or C minor.

Due to this simplistic concept, there is a drawback; there is no indication of which register to place the chord, so the voicing is left to the individual musician, to place their playing marque upon the chords within a song. At the very least, chord symbols act as a useful memory jogger.

Chord symbols can then be further expanded by adding extensions, such as a 7th.

In the context of a symbol, such as C7, the default extended note would be one tone below the chord name. In this case, C7 would consist of the triad of C, with a Bb included.

This is a hark-back to the days of jazz and blues, where the sound of this flattened 7th became standard. This also explains why we have to differentiate between this chord type, and the chord described as a major 7th.

When you see the symbol C maj7, the ‘maj7’ element is telling you to play the 7th which is one semitone below the chord name, which in this case is a B natural.

It’s so named because it’s the 7th from a major scale, and not the more usual flattened variety, associated with the blues.

This becomes slightly more complicated with a chord such as Cm Maj7; the basic triad here would be a chord of C minor, however we are also being instructed to add the Maj7, or the note B.

You can continue to add chord extensions as liberally as you like, although many of the more elaborate extensions tend to be rarely used in rock or pop. You’re less likely to see 9ths, 11ths or even 13ths!

One device that can be indispensable, especially for the bass player in your unit, is the indication of the note required in the bass. Adding this information to a chord symbol is very simple, but it does take some practice to quickly understand while playing, particularly if you're reading a chord chart for the first time.

A symbol such as C/G can be broken down into two elements; the first symbol ‘C’ relates to the required chord, in the usual way. The addition of the ‘/G’ element, tells us that we want a chord of C, but with a bass note of G. We verbally describe this as ‘C over G’.

While we are providing what could be described as a bluffers-guide-to-chord-symbols, it's worth noting that our literal translations here are regarded as the most common examples of their usage.

As is so often the case with music, the language can slightly alter, depending on the style of musician you are working with.

If you find yourself working with musicians who lean more towards jazz, the same rules apply, but the visual descriptions can sometimes be a little different.

The rock derivation of chord symbol is arguably the most common, being at the more simplistic end of chordal business, so here are a few other iconographic examples that you might come across.

If you see a symbol such as C- this does not relate to a bad school report!

The minus sign is often used by jazz musicians to indicate a minor chord, so this would be a chord of C minor. On rare occasions, jazz musicians might use lowercase lettering to indicate minor keys as well, although this can lead to complications and confusion, depending on how big the chord font is!

Another common example relates to the description of a maj7th. This I can be indicated via the use of a triangle symbol. 'C∆' indicates C maj7, in a far more concise format.

Writing out a simple chord chart doesn't have to be complicated, but writing out guitar tablature can be more difficult, particularly for non-guitarists. Many score packages, such as Sibelius, will recognise a chord being used, from the notes in your music, and can even create guitar tab too! Exceptionally useful, if your guitarist prefers to talk ‘tab’!

Every guitarist needs to know their chords – whether you're learning favourite songs or writing your own this is a great place to start with it all

We're breaking 22 essential chords into three areas – beginner guitar chords, folk and blues. There's plenty of inspiration here for any style and skill level though, plus audio for every chord. Let's get strumming!

Start with these 10 chords 

These are the 10 must-learn chords that every guitarist uses all the time. If you don’t know these chords, learn them right now. The dots tell you where to put your fingers. The numbers tell you which of your four fingers to use. Black dots are root notes.

Check out the audio examples of how they should sound below the chord boxes too.

Essential folk chords 

Get a folk vibe to your playing with these chords, which are more colourful and interesting than the simple open major chords you may already know. each shape uses open strings – this is a great way of adding intervals that would be impossible to stretch to. Try experimenting with moving the shapes up and down the neck to create new sounds.

Essential blues chords

The general theme with these shapes is the dominant 7th sound, which is essentially a major chord plus a b7th. This is a great way of injecting some ‘blues’ flavour into your chord progressions. You can also add 9th and 11th intervals for more colourful sounds a well as a #9 interval for that classic Hendrix sound.

• 10 of the best songs for beginner guitar players to learn

When you start your guitar journey, it’s very easy to imagine that you’d need to learn hundreds of different things before you can master a song or two. The good news is, that isn’t entirely true.

There are loads of great songs out there from across the decades that are often a lot simpler to play than you might think. You can learn hundreds of songs with just a few easy chords and some basic rhythm playing chops, and before you know it you’ll have an arsenal of fully formed songs under your fingertips.

In this lesson we’re going to be checking out five well known songs that use just four chords.

1. Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

This Green Day song has become a staple in countless acoustic guitar players' repertoires. It’s a fun and simple song with a simple strumming pattern that repeats throughout the whole track.

The chords are G, Cadd9, D and Em

With this being quite a loose feeling song, you have some artistic licence to add a little variation should the need arise – so you don’t have to rigidly stick to a single rhythm.

Inside the strumming pattern, the only major challenge is skipping over beats 2 and 4 to come back in on the second 16th note (the 'e' if you're counting each beat as '1 e & a'). At these points of the rhythm you’ll actually be doing two upstrokes back to back.

Song structure:

Intro

Verse

Chorus

Interlude (Same as Intro)

Verse

Chorus

Instrumental (Intro and Verse together)

Chorus

Interlude (Same as Intro)

Chorus

Outro (Same as Intro, end on G)

2. Eagle Eye Cherry - Save Tonight

This 90s classic is a guaranteed crowd pleaser. If you pull this one out at a small gig or a party, it always gets people singing. It's super-easy, with just one chord progression and one rhythm running all the way from start to finish.

The chords are Am, F, C and G

The rhythm sounds a lot harder than it is. If you imagine it as being straight eighth notes, you then only have to focus on adding some additional strums into the bar.

The additional strums occur on the 'a' of beat 2 (2 e & a), the 'e' of 3 (3 e & a) and the 'a' of 4 (you get the idea!). Note that on the original studio recording all the notes other than the downbeats on 2 and 4 are played with a slight palm mute.

This rhythm stays the same throughout the entire song and each bar contains two chords found on beats 1 and 3. Bar 1 is Am to F and bar 2 is C to G.

Song structure:

Am-F-C-G throughout

3. The Cranberries - Zombie

Another song that leans heavily on a single progression (for the most part) is Zombie by The Cranberries. This song holds the same progression until after the second chorus where it adds a slight variation.

The chords are Em, C, G and D/F#

Rhythmically, it's very straightforward, using straight eighth notes with an additional strum on the 'a' of beats 2 and 4. Each chord is played for a whole bar.

The main change for this song occurs after the second chorus in the instrumental breakdown, you maintain the same rhythm but only move between Em and C until the guitar solo starts, at which point you go back to the main progression.

The outro of the song once again returns to alternating between Em and C.

Song structure:

Intro

Verse

Chorus

Instrumental

Verse

Chorus

Instrumental (Em to C)

Guitar Solo

Outro (Em to C)

4. Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved

You’ll need a capo on the 3rd fret to play along with the studio recording of this early noughties classic. The original has a distinctive fingerpicked guitar figure that leads the song, but we’re going to emulate that with strumming here.

The chord shapes are Am, G, C and F

Thanks to the capo, the actual pitch of those chords is Cm, Bb, Eb and Ab

One of the trickiest aspects of this song is the rhythm that you’ll be using for the intro and verses. Our strummed part is going to simulate the rhythm of the fingerpicked guitar part.

This rhythm falls across two bars. In bar 1 you start with the Am, strumming on the '1 2 & 3 &' beats. On the '&' of beat 4 switch to the G. This change may feel a little rushed because it’s slightly ahead of beat 1 which is where we would expect to change chords.

Then we’re sticking to the '&' strums only for the two beats of bar 2 before playing '& 4 &' at the end of the bar. These offbeat strums are best played with upstrokes to keep the strumming hand flowing.

Once you hit the chorus, the rhythm straightens out and feels a little more predictable. At this point you switch to playing a downstroke on each beat and an upstroke on the '&' of beats 3 and 4. This is the same rhythm used for the bridge.

Song structure:

Intro

Verse

Chorus

Verse

Chorus

Bridge

Break (Same as Intro)

Chorus

Outro (Same as Chorus)

5. Jason Mraz - I'm Yours

The final song we’re going to check out is I’m Yours by Jason Mraz. While this is a four-chord song for the most part, there is also an additional fifth chord that gets played a very small number of times throughout the song. Note also that the song features a capo on the 2nd fret.

The chord shapes are A, E, F#m, D and B7

The capo raises the pitch of the chords by a tone to B, F#, G#m, E and C#7

The first two strums of each beat (the lower notes) are slightly palm muted and the second pair of pick strokes (the higher notes) are played so that the strings ring out. The main rhythm has a blues shuffle feel. You’ll be playing four notes per beat (16th notes), but they should be swung.

This is a hard feel to count if you’re new to rhythm so listen carefully to the play-through in the video and try to emulate the rhythm by sound rather than lose too much time counting it at this stage.

The majority of the song follows a simple progression of this rhythm and the chords A, E, F#m and D, all played for a bar each.

The first time the B7 chord appears is as a single strum at the end of the second verse before going into the chorus. It’s very obvious when you listen to the song where this is as there is a clear stop.

The only rhythm change is during the bridge where the rhythm becomes straighter and you play two chords per bar over the first two bars (A and E to F#m and E), before a bar of D and a bar of B7. On the second repeat of the Bridge you will be playing the B7 as a build up, gradually getting louder.

Song structure:

Intro

Verse

Chorus

Verse (With B7 at the end)

Chorus

Bridge

Verse

Chorus (B7 on last repeat)

Outro (Same as intro progression)

The presence of a well-crafted and performed chord progression can often be the glue that gels the song together. If executed well, it should support your melody and lyric, while grabbing listeners on an emotional level.

Before we dig into harmony too deeply, we must address a musical elephant in the room; chord progressions are arguably more essential for songwriters, than they might be for artists or producers working in some styles of electronically generated music or production.

Many of the most successful house/dance/EDM tracks don’t employ a significant sequence of chords. This is nothing new! It’s a concept that harks back hundreds of years to the chanting of plainsong. It was also made fashionable in the 60s, though a form of music known as 'minimalism'.

A lot of the electronically-produced music that we hear today could be regarded as fairly static in harmonic construction, relying on builds through rhythm and texture to generate structure.

Having said that, there is no doubt that any form of harmonic progression can offer something to just about all musical styles, so it’s worth considering, regardless of your chosen genre.

To get us underway, we’re going to concentrate on the construction of a verse or chorus’s harmonic structure; the two are interchangeable, depending on the way you want to use them, and in some instances, can actually be the same!

The chances are, you’ll be sitting with a guitar or keyboard in front of you, and playing a few chords to get you going, so start by choosing a key.

The most important decision at this stage could be whether you want to work in a major or minor key, depending on the outlook you want to portray.

Major keys will sound happier and brighter than minor keys, but that’s no use if you’re writing about the fact that you’ve just been jilted! Although, there are examples of reverse psychology. Think of CeeLo Green and Forget You, which is very major in key, but all about his ‘ex’ dumping him!

We’re sticking with C major - a nice keyboard key!

Old favourites

When creating a harmonic progression, particularly for a song, we are looking to create a sequence of chords which may repeat as the song progresses. The harmony is fundamental in setting the song’s tone and feel.

Part of the process involves crafting a balance in the structure that’s pleasing to the listener, as well as feeling nice to play or sing along with.

We can learn a lot from existing material, so let’s start by examining one of the most used and longest established chord sequences in existence.

Try the following, played as a chord per bar:

C major - G major - A minor - F major

This can also be described as the following chords:

I - V - VI - IV (or 1 - 5 - 6 - 4)

If you play this sequence through, it probably sounds overwhelmingly familiar. That's because it has been used by everyone, from The Beatles, U2, James Blunt, Black Eyed Peas, Spice Girls, A-ha, Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, Blink 182… you get the picture!

It’s important to note that, as demonstrated by this selection of artists, this sequence crosses all genre and musical boundaries, proving the point that a well-crafted sequence is successful wherever you may wish to use it.

Let’s unpick why this harmonic sequence works so well. When working in a major key, chords or triads are based upon different degrees of the scale, reflecting a major or minor tonality at the individual chord level.

Chords I, IV & V are all major, whereas chords II, III and VI are minor. Chord VII is diminished, so we don’t tend to us it very often, particularly as the notes are not that dissimilar to chord V, which we tend to use instead.

This successful sequence of chords is overtly major, with a singular minor chord thrown in (VI) to create a sense of contrast and balance. The last chord in the sequence is also major, and leads nicely back to chord I.

Note that the chord of A minor (VI) is the 3rd chord of the sequence, which is a strong bar, subservient only to the 1st bar.

If we re-order these same chords, we can hear another popular sequence:

C major - A minor - F major - G major

I - VI - IV - V

This also sounds very familiar, but we could play around further and change the third chord to D minor. This will place a minor chord on the 3rd bar, creating equal weighting, as we now have two major and two minor chords.

Ultimately, we are looking to take our existing structure but swap chords to create a more desirable or different effect. This process could ultimately mean that we create an 8-bar sequence, which might look something like this:

C major - A minor - E minor - F major

C major - A minor - F major - G major

Dominant chords and the chorus

One chord which we have to take a moment to examine, is chord V, which we also describe as the 'dominant' chord. In our key of C major, this is a chord of G major.

Dominant chords are really useful, as they create a perfect pivot for heading back to our home chord of C major, but they also have another exceptionally useful trick up their sleeve; they are excellent for building tension.

If we consider our eight bar structure, which finishes with a chord of G major, we could extend that chord by a couple of bars or more, and use it as a device for leading into a new section, such as a chorus. The buildup will be perfect, as the accompanying sense of anticipation is in place, before we move back to our chord of C major.

By the nature of the song-shaped-beast, you will probably want to save your best or catchiest chord progression, hook or melody for your chorus, but there is nothing to stop you using the same chords, or better still, play around by swapping-out chords for alternatives, or ‘substitutions’ as they are referred to.

One important point to be aware of though, is that harmonic content is not an element of a song that can be copyrighted. There are only so many chords, and they can only be reordered so many times, which also explains why so many songs share the same harmonic characteristics.

There have however been many examples of songs being sued, where the similarity extends beyond the harmony, so be sure to mix things up so that you’re not trampling on another well-known tune. You wouldn’t want to end up on court, fighting over four chords would you?

Read the previous instalments in our ongoing theory series below

- The pillars of music theory made simple
- How to become a master of melodies
- A quick guide to reading music
- How to understand rhythm when reading music
- Understanding scale theory
- How to use triads
- How to use suspended chords

Triads are incredibly useful for creating quick and easy harmonies, but altering the middle note of a triad can completely change your production’s character, and inject real interest into your harmonic narrative.

The one note in a triad that confirms whether we are in a major or a minor key, is the third. As the moniker suggests, the third of a triad is also the third degree of either a major or minor scale, and in a root position triad, resides in the middle of the triad/chord.

Sometimes, we might want to write a piece of music which is more nebulous in character, neither hinting at a major or a minor tonality. This is an effect that is exceptionally easy to achieve, merely by moving the third of the triad.

If we take the example of a C major triad, we’ll use the notes C, E and G. The E is the third of the chord, and the singular note that invokes the major tonality.

Raise this note to an F, and we create a triad which is often referred to as a 'sus4'. The ‘sus’ abbreviation refers to ‘suspended’, which is a hark-back to techniques drawn from harmony used in classical music.

However, the sus4 is exceptionally useful for building tension, when you don't want to suggest that you are in a major or a minor key.

You can also try dropping the E of your C major triad, to the note D instead. This creates another form of suspended chord, known as a sus2.

As you may have worked out already, the number that we use while describing a sus4 or sus2, refers to the note that we have moved, and its position in a scale.

In the case of our sus4, the note F is the 4th degree of either C major or the minor scale, while D is the 2nd degree of our C scale, as used in a sus2.

In musical circles, musicians may just refer to a chord as a ‘sus’ chord; this always refers to a sus4 by default, so if you want a sus2, you’ll need to say so!

When to use a suspended chord

In its original classical incarnation, the suspended note of a sus4 chord, would often resolve to the third of the triad, an adoption that has been been around for literally hundreds of years.

Bringing us more up to date, there have been some very obvious placements of the suspended chord in commercial and pop music, across all ages and genre.

A classic example of a sus4 chord, resolving to a major chord, placed in a rhythmic cycle, would be the opening two chords to the classic track Pinball Wizard by The Who. The acoustic, rhythm guitar riff alternates between the two chords through the entire introduction, extending into the initial part of the 1st verse of the song.

The suspended chord is also a favourite of far more contemporary artists, such as Jon Hopkins. Much of his piano playing features the use of suspended chords, which in turn draws influence from film composers, such as Thomas Newman - another huge user of the sus!

What we really enjoy about suspended chords is their slightly ambiguous nature. Sometimes you don't want to be overtly happy or sad, by using a major or a minor key, and the use of a suspended chord strikes that perfect balance between the two, without ever giving the game away. Give it a try and add some jeopardy to your harmonies!

Read the previous instalments in our ongoing theory series below

- The pillars of music theory made simple
- How to become a master of melodies
- A quick guide to reading music
- How to understand rhythm when reading music
- Understanding scale theory
- How to use triads

A prodigious talent from a young age, and now renowned as one of this generation’s most skilled jazz guitar players, Julian Lage is well equipped to dispense advice on how to improve on a theoretical approach to guitar. When speaking to the Broken Record Podcast - recorded live at the Blue Note Club in New York - Lage was asked by hosts Justin Richmond and Don Was how he became such a dexterous player of both jazz and blues.

“I find great support in knowing that I'm far from the only person doing this. You know, it was here before me, and it’ll be here when I'm dead, so I'm just passing through, you know?" Lage said. “I [ultimately] wanted to be part of a creative project, and in order to do that and feel comfortable, I needed to deal with a lot of things that are really no one else's business. That's scales, that's theory and that's understanding guitar.”

Lage, whose recent twelfth album Speak to Me was met with wide acclaim from critics, went into greater detail on how his abilities developed from amateur player to virtuoso.

“[It comes down to] even knowing where the pitches are on the instrument - I've always felt like that's massively overlooked,” Julian said, “what I found though, is there are so many hurdles as guitar players we get into (I was there for a long time) that are attributed to [only] knowing 30% of the neck. That's a very simple example of kind of doing your homework. Just map it out - it takes a week.”

Julian, who once played on-stage with Carlos Santana at age 9, then went on to underline a method for dealing with progressively harder elements of learning guitar theory, orienting around simple touchstones;

“I remember, as a young person, thinking ‘despite all the things I know that I don't know - what is something I can do that I just feel I could do in my sleep. A really good example would be probably playing a C Major chord. The reason I say that is because I probably learned it really early on, and when I play it, I can talk and do it, I can breathe and play it. Now, to me, that's somewhat of a litmus test. That's a metric for what it's like to have a mastery over a little domain on the instrument.”

Lage explained that he’d progress to trying something a little less comfortable, and try to get into a zone where he felt more relaxed playing complicated parts. “I’d immediately ask ‘what has left me?’ - I can’t really breathe when I’m doing [this], I’m really anxious, my tone dipped. So, I would keep going back to the reset (that safe C Major chord), and I would keep going back to that touchstone. If you do it enough, you can get those difficult things to feel good in a way I had faith in. It’s very hard to have faith that you’re good at something if you’re not used to that ‘good’ feeling.”

Lage credited his father with teaching him this relaxed way in to learning theory, “I think that's how my father looked at teaching me guitar, it’s all from him.”

To hear more of the interview, check out the full Broken Record Podcast and for more information on Julian Lage, head to his website

Oasis is a band that most of us don’t tend to lean into when we think of the great riff writing bands, but perhaps we should start doing that.

Oasis are known for their huge anthemic songs that defined the sound of the 1990s, but inside some of their songs that are actually some riffs that can rival the great riff writers of all time.

In this lesson we’re going to check out 5 classic Oasis riffs and one very underrated riff you also need to check out.

1. Cigarettes & Alcohol

Cigarettes & Alcohol starts with a riff that you’d be forgiven for mistaking for a T-Rex riff. This 12 bar blues style riff conjures up imagery of 1970s Glam Rock bands.

The riff combines some simple blues style patterns with single note walk downs and arpeggiated chords.

Overall, the riff is pretty easy to play through, but the final section can be tricky as you move into the F#11 chord. The finger movement into the first part of the chord needs to be accurate because once you start arpeggiating the chord, there is no room for error.

2. Some Might Say

The riff to Some Might Say starts in a very similar manner to Cigarettes & Alcohol, it starts with a very familiar 12 bar blues style riff.

This riff has some additional challenges when the chords kick in because you’ll be playing power chords, but also barring across the strings on both the B and G power chords to allow you to pick some higher notes.

The riff ends with a Keith Richards style riff which involves playing the A chord with a single finger barring the notes on the D, G and B strings which allows you to add additional notes.

This short riff covers a lot of changes in just 8 bars so when learning this be sure to break it down section by section and focus on getting every transition clean.

3. F*****' in the Bushes

This is one of Oasis’ more out and out rock riffs. This song kicks off with a single note picked riff that wouldn’t be out of place on some of our favourite classic rock records.

The riff is be played with alternate picking as it is mostly made up of 16^th notes. There are a few instances where you will skip a 16^th note, meaning you will pick the same direction twice, but overall, alternate picking will make this riff feel much smoother under the fingers.

There is a large position shift from the 3^rd fret to the 7^th so focus on getting from place to place a little slower at first. The picking hand should not have any break in rhythm at this point of the riff so timing is very important here.

4. Supersonic

Supersonic features one of the most iconic sounding Oasis chords, the F#m11. This chord will instantly make you think of this song.

The song is made up of a repeated, arpeggiated chord pattern which goes up the F#m11 before coming back down, but instead of finishing up on the 4^th fret of the A string, you will replace this with an open A string.

The riff then moves to a change between an A power chord and the lowest 3 notes of a B7 chord.

This riff is repeated 4 times, but on the final time a short bending phrase is added after the B7 chord.

5. Slide Away

Slide Away is a track that has puzzled many guitar players over the years. The hardest part about playing this track is hearing the different between the two guitar parts on the record. One one side you have an arpeggiated chord sequence, and the other side a strummed chord pattern.

These two parts blend together so well on record that it’s sometimes hard to work out which guitar is doing which part.

The overall progression being outlined is Am7, G, Fmaj7sus2.

On the guitar part playing the arpeggios, you will need to add the G note on the high E string also.

After the Am7 chord, there is a short run before going to the G (which is outlined with just a single note), before running up the Fmaj7sus2 chord. If you want to create a fuller sound for a single guitar arrangement, you can insert a full G chord instead of the single note that is a placeholder.

The Am7 chord changes rhythm slightly on the second repeat, starting with 2 small strums before playing the same run down but slightly delayed.

6. Cloudburst

This riff is easily one of the most underrated and under-appreciated riffs in the Oasis discography. The riff has a strong classic rock vibe, but also has a John Squire/Stone Roses style feel about it.

The riff in question starts about the 3:30 mark on the track. The first bar you hear is a pair of open low E notes, followed by a semi tone bend on the 6^th fret of the D, ending on the 7^th of the A.

This open low E phrase is only played on this first instance, this is replaced by a hammer on phrase from here on.

The riff then moves to a hammer on from the 5^th to the 7^th frets of the A then D strings, before hitting an open E string. Then the bending phrase is repeated, except this time the bend is on the 6^th of the G and you land on the 7^th of the D.

The riff jumps between two different starting points, one on the A string, one on the E. You then start the riff from the 5^th fret of the E and repeat the hammer on phrase from this string.

How many people reading this right now, can, hand-on-heart really explain what they’re doing when they make music? It might be the case that you’re an established artist with several albums, tours and hefty critical acclaim under your belt, but when it comes down to the rudiments of theory, you might find yourself at a loss to articulate how you slot your musical elements together. You might think it just feels ‘right’ when you hit upon a chord sequence, or melody that works. But why does it work? What makes music operate how it does?

Are we saying here that you need a formal theoretical knowledge? Absolutely not. In our view, music-making really should be more of an intuitive process, and several of the best songs in the history of popular music have been birthed purely through unstudied trial and error. But, to save your own time, and to get a clearer perspective on the mechanics of sound, songwriting, track-building and just why things work the way they do in music - picking up some music theory can go a long, long way.

For some, trying to find a way into the iceberg of music theory can be a daunting prospect. While many educators can quite quickly over-complicate matters by going too deep, too quick, our aim is to gradually deconstruct the elements of music theory that will demonstrably make your music better.

So, with that principle in mind, we’re going to begin in this first instalment by shining a light on the three core pillars of music theory.

The three pillars

The three pillars of music theory

Before any journey begins, it’s a good idea to have a top-down map of just where you’re going. And, for your first steps onto the branching pathways of music theory, it’s important to visualise three central pillars. These are:

- Melody
- Harmony
- Rhythm

Melody

What is melody?

The first of these pillars, melody, is - we’d argue - the most vital. After all it’s the element that remains in listeners’ heads, and the tune that they'll whistle on their way to work. It’s therefore been essential to the success of all pop music, ever.

When we talk about melody in this pillar-like context, we’re talking generally about combinations of notes which, when played/sang in rising and falling structures, will stand at the front and centre of your track, or might support the main melody as a counter-melody.

Think of some of the biggest ear-worms in pop: Lady Gaga’s Just Dance, ABBA’s Mamma Mia, Outkast’s Hey Ya, and… well, the list goes on. What you really go-to, when you think of these songs is, what we call, the topline melody. When was the last time you heard someone humming the underlying chord sequence or beatboxing the rhythm of a pop hit?

All these songs share excellently constructed topline melodies, these are (often) the lead vocal melodies that are designed to be those viral, can’t-get-it-out-of-my-head hooks that make you want to return to the song and hear it again. Melodies don’t have to be just sung however, melodies refer to any structured notational movement in your piece of music, and can be played on any instrument.

Think of the sweet, seductive riff of Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns N' Roses, or the stabby, austere synth part of New Order’s Blue Monday. Basically, if you can whistle it, you can think of it as a melody.

Repetition is key for melodies to get stuck within the listener’s heads, as well as underlining their importance to the composition. We’ll look at melody in greater detail in our next instalment

Harmony

What is harmony?

The second of these pillars, harmony relates to the foundations on which your melodies are built, as well as the overall structure and dynamic journey of your track. Chords and how they interlink are essential concepts to grasp when it comes to harmony.

Learning about harmony can reveal how various linked chords - or keys - relate to each other. This is why a bridge might naturally sound like it leads back into a chorus, or how you can make your chorus feel like it arises out of a calmer verse.

So, what is a chord anyway? It essentially consists of three or more notes which ring at the same time. The lowest note on in the chord is (typically) the one which determines the overall letter of a chord. So, in an E minor for example, the bass note of that chord (on a guitar, this would be an open E string) defines the starting point of the chord, while the higher notes add further weight and augmentation to that foundation.

How the various major and minor chords relate with each other is crucial to becoming a better songwriter and track-builder. We’ll be exploring chords, and harmonic interplay in forensic detail over the coming weeks.

Rhythm

What is rhythm?

The third core component we need to get a lock on is rhythm, which (as its name implies) relates to the beat as well as the pace and flow of a track. It stands to reason that drums and time signatures are important, but in a composition-context it dictates the groove and strumming pattern you might play your guitar, the amount of keys you hit on your keyboard/synth, the momentum of a bass-line or the intensity of the delivery of your lyrics/top-line.

While basic rhythm is typically the pulse defined by the drum beat or click-track (if you’re working in the DAW or for live work), it’s also a concept that helps us understand the fundamental principle that your track is an //event// that’s operating within a fixed time-limit at a set pace.

While we’ve mentioned various sections supporting and paving the way to upcoming sections in relation to harmony, it’s also really important when it comes to rhythm. Having a chorus that speeds up, or slows down for example, or a resigned lyrical delivery that contrasts a faster-paced instrumental arrangement (see: Billie Eilish) are both rhythmic considerations, as well as harmony.

Sometimes a rhythm is quite overt, and illustrated by a pounding drum machine or a drummer pummelling a drum-kit, but other times the rhythm is dictated by the speed at which chords transition, or how a vocal or top-line melody completes its note-cycle. While we’re in danger of getting too complex here, we’ll pull back at this stage and simply re-iterate that rhythm pertains to time and speed - both of which heavily dictate your entire approach to songwriting.

In our next instalment, we’ll dig deeper into the first pillar of music theory - melody, and explore some examples of melodies that have traditionally worked extremely well, and how you can build more effective melodies yourself.

About a Girl is one of Nirvana’s most beloved songs, a beautiful Beatles-recalling hymn to a fading relationship that stands in stark contrast to the muddy, nihilistic sonics found elsewhere on their 1989 debut, Bleach.

But when analysed further, the theory behind the song – which would become the opening track at the iconic MTV Unplugged show in 1994 – underlines Cobain’s gift for writing effective chord sequences instinctually.

On a Reddit thread in the r/musictheory SubReddit, user ’Nun-Much’ asked why the song – which orients its verse pattern around a rolling Em and G sequence – seems to imply an Em key, when the following ‘chorus’ section rolls through the chords C#, F#7, E5, A and C, which deviates from the chords that correspond with Em.

“How comes this sounds good? Like what’s the theory behind this that makes it sounds so good and unique? Is this a common phenomenon used in music? I really aim to understand this type of stuff so I can make unique progressions myself.” ‘Nun-Much’ asks.

Help is at hand, as other Reddit users pick apart both Cobain’s songwriting approach, and the psychological impact, that makes the song work. “C# and F# are part of E major, the chords droning back in forth in a heavy E minor pattern and then jumping directly a tritone root movement to a chord from the parallel major key has a kind of jarring sound but the relationship is not that distant so you still hear the context of the original,” points out user ‘Tangible_Slate’.

But, on the larger point of key-jumping being a fixed rule, LukeSniper opines: “Everything being diatonic is not some sort of requirement or restriction on things sounding good. Here we might just say that we've switched to C#. It's the three most basic chords in C#. The melody follows such a key change. Then we go back to E minor (but Kurt sings a G# over the E minor chord, because why not?) We're just describing what's happening. We wouldn't say ‘this sounds good because that's what it is.’ That's not really what music theory is.”

He goes on to say that, “The change to that C# is abrupt, but... that's kind of the point. It's surprising. That can be exciting and interesting. It ‘works’ because Kurt was a good songwriter and did it with confidence and conviction. Honestly, you can make pretty much anything ‘work’ if you do it with some conviction. Something super unusual might sound cool simply because it's unusual. I assure you that Kurt Cobain wasn't sitting there thinking "How do I use music theory to make this strange thing work?"

A further user response highlights the casual relationship we have with music theory by cultural osmosis, which may have underpinned Kurt’s thought process when writing the song. Reddit user Jongtr states: “If you regard classical music (and classical theory) as ‘proper grammar’, then rock music is a kind of ‘musical slang’. It's not so much ‘breaking rules’, as ignoring some rules (the irrelevant ones) and making up its own. Kurt Cobain, like all rock musicians, grew up around music using that language, so naturally he ‘spoke’ that language himself. Of course, he settled on one or two personal quirks here and there - his own ‘voice’ - but in terms of chord choice and chord sequence it's all pretty much standard.”

Originally written in 1988, and recorded as part of the six-day session that spawned in their abrasive debut, Bleach, About a Girl endures as the diamond in the rough – a glimmer of vulnerability amidst its chaotic album-mates, such as School, Blew and Love Buzz. The title stems from when Cobain was asked originally what the song was about in the studio; “It’s about a girl’ he replied.

Read and and engage with the discussion over on Reddit

When you think of Oasis’s songwriting approach, you would be forgiven for initially thinking that most of what you hear can be achieved with a few simple chords, and for some Oasis tracks, you will be able to do just that.

But, if you break through the top layer of the band's Noel Gallagher-penned mega hits, you’ll find that a lot more goes into their chord progression than G, C, Em7 and D. Underneath this later of anthems there is an array of interesting and unusual chords that make up some of the bands biggest songs.

In this lesson we’re going to look at four unusual chords that have appeared in Oasis tracks.

E7/G# - Don’t Look Back in Anger

One of the most debated chords of the last 30 years is the E7/G# chord Noel Gallagher plays in the pre-chorus of Don’t Look Back in Anger. 

Many guitar players have played this as a regular E7 shape and used their little finger to reach up to the G# on the low E string. However, in 2023 Noel put an end to this debate by showing exactly how he plays this chord.

This is a fairly unusual voicing, he plays the G# on the 4th fret of the low E, and the 4th fret on the G. The other strings are all played open, except for the A which is muted by the underside of the finger playing the low E string. 

Asus2/G – Champagne Supernova

This particular chord is actually one of a few unusual chords in the same progression. The track Champagne Supernova starts with a progression based around an Asus2 chord. As the progression advances, the root note of the chord walks down from A to G to F# to E while maintaining the Asus2 throughout.

This creates the impression of a bassline moving underneath the chord and at times, can sound slightly dissonant. This is an interesting technique to give a single chord a different sound over multiple bars.

Esus2 – Little By Little

While an Esus2 might not be typically considered an unusual chord, what is different about this chord featured in the song Little By Little is the chord shape. You’re playing a B power chord on the A and D strings while letting the low and high E string, and the B string ring open.

Depending on the context of the song, and the key of the song, this chord could also be viewed as a Bsus2/E.

F#m11/C# - Supersonic

The song Supersonic contains a very unusual sounding chord in the into. This is an F#m11 chord, but in this instance, the low F# note is not played, it is rooted in a C# note. This chord is arpeggiated through the intro.

The m11 is quite a complex chord voicing, when strummed it can sound like there is a lot going on, but when broken up in this manner it creates an interesting, almost suspenseful, vibe.

• “No album in history has experienced such a swift and dramatic reversal of fortune": The great Oasis Be Here Now debate

For a new guitar player, the idea of learning some classic songs might seem scary. We often think that the biggest and best songs in the world must be complicated works of art, but this isn’t always true.

In fact, many of the mega hits that have become the soundtrack to our lives are often simpler to play on the guitar than we might think. In this lesson we’re going to take four classic acoustic-driven songs and break them down. Each of the songs uses only a few chords so you will be able to strum your way through them in no time!

1. America – A Horse With No Name

This song is actually based around just two chords. The chords have names that make them sound complex, but don’t let the names put you off. The chords are relatively simple to get to grips with:

The EmAdd9 chord is actually just a regular E minor with the 2nd fret of the high E string added. You can add this with your third, or little finger, depending on what feels best. 

The D6 chord still holds that second fret of the high E, but the finger playing the 2nd on the D shifts down to the 2nd on the G.

If you want, you can also use your thumb to add the low F# note on the 2nd fret of the low E string, but this is not necessary.

Rhythm-wise, this track is played with a triplet shuffle feel. This means your upstrums will be moving slightly closer to the beat that follows them. Instead of playing it straight, you’re dividing each beat into 3 (This is our triplet – 1 & a), and playing a downstroke on the beat and an upstroke on the “a”.

In the EmAdd9 bar, you are skipping the downbeat on the 3rd and coming back in on the “a” and in the D6 bar you’ll be skipping the downbeat on the 2 and coming back in on the “a”. 

If you have never played a shuffle feel before, just listen to the rhythm in the video lesson at the top of the page and try to copy what you hear rather than trying to count it.

2. Johnny Cash - Hurt

Johnny Cash’s cover of the Nine Inch Nails track Hurt was noy only the final track he ever released while alive, but it became one of his most notable hits. Cash really managed to convey the emotion in the lyrics in a new way.

Underpinning this is a very simple, and moody chord progression.

The arpeggiated intro and verse is made up of just three chords:

The chords are gently picked in a straight 8th note style pattern. Even though this is a straight feel, you can get away with being slightly loose when playing this to capture the songs emotion. While this song doesn’t have a pre-chorus, there is a single bar of G that is played prior to the chorus starting.

The chorus itself is also a straight feel, while alternating between strumming the full chord on the beat and the root of the chord on the off beat. The chorus uses the chords:

The chorus sticks on each chord for a full bar. The chord order changes slightly as the chorus goes on so check out the video to find the full structure you need for the chorus.

3. John Lennon – Working Class Hero

For this John Lennon classic, you’re going to moving away from 4/4 time and playing in 6/8 time. This means you’ll be dividing your bar of music up into 6 beats. You can count this as 1 2 3 4 5 6, or 1 2 3 2 2 3. 

For the rhythm of this track, think of the bar as being two groups of three notes. On the 1 beat, play the root of the chord, on the 2 & 3 &, strum the higher notes of the chord, repeat for the second half of the bar.

The song starts with an A minor chord:

If you want to play this exactly how Lennon played it, on the first half of the bar, play the A root, on the second half, play the open D string and hammer on to the 2nd fret, before going into the strumming.

In the verse you’ll be keeping the A minor going, but you’ll also be introducing a G chord. The G chord is played in 3/8 time, which means you’re just playing half of your 6/8 bar. Count it as 1 2 3, before going straight back into A minor.

The chorus of this song starts with a full repeat of one segment of the verse, even though the vocal change indicates we’ve changed section, before going into the final line. This line has three bars of 3/8, in these three bars you’ll be playing an Am, G and D, before moving back to the standard 6/8 form of A minor.

4. Credence Clearwater Revival – Have You Ever Seen The Rain

The final track we’re going to look at is the CCR song Have You Even Seen The Rain. This track is a very upbeat strum along that is great fun to get to grips with.

This song has three main parts, an intro, a verse and a chorus. The intro is made up of a 6 bar phrase. The chords used are: 

The rhythm for the intro is the same rhythm that you’ll use for most of the song. It’s straight 8th notes with an 8th note break on the 2nd beat. This happens all throughout the song, with the exception of the occasional bar where all 8th notes are played.

The verse consists of just C and G chords. 4 bars of C, 2 bars of G and 2 more of C before repeating the entire section again.

The chorus is where this gets interesting, you start with a bar of F and a bar of G, with the same rhythm you’d been using, before going to a walk down phrase. This walkdown phrase goes to straight 8th notes, but each bar will contain 2 chord changes. The chords used are:

This selection of chords creates the impression of a bassline walking down. You’re playing 2 beats on each chord which is 4 strums (2 per beat). This phrase is also repeated twice before going back to a bar of F, a bar of G and two bars of C.

When working on the walk down phrase, spend some time focusing on clean transitions between each chord because the straight feel of this part of the song means there is very little room for timing inconsistencies. 

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Progressive rock legends Genesis certainly knew about pushing musical boundaries. As one of the pioneers of British prog, Genesis provided every guitarist who played their music with a real lesson in musicianship.

In this lesson we’re going to be looking at four chords featured in some of the band's biggest songs during the Peter Gabriel-fronted '70s era that featured guitarists Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford. 

Edim

If you ask most Genesis fans what the band's most epic, and progressive track is, the chances are Supper's Ready will crop up many times. This 23-minute progressive masterpiece takes the listener on a journey.

In the track's first part, there is a picked line with a descending top note. At some point this becomes an Edim chord, but the huge pitch distance between the open strings and the higher fretted notes gives a really nice, ethereal-sounding chord. 

Am

On the surface, an A minor chord might not sound like the most interesting chord, but what is interesting here is the shape used. This A Minor chord, from the track Firth Of Fifth, is played as a fragment of a six-string minor barre chord shape.

The interesting thing here is the addition of the C (the major 3rd) once again at the top of the chord. The eagle-eyed out there may also recognize this chord from the intro to the Led Zeppelin track Stairway To Heaven.

E6add9

In the song The Musical Box from the Nursery Cryme album you will hear a chord that is a very unusual, but interesting sounding chord. That chord is the E6add9. This appears around the three-minute mark of the song.

This chord is only played with a single strum, which for a chord this complex is the best approach. There is a lot of harmonic content to this chord so playing the chord is best approached in a more minimalist fashion.

AmAdd9

The song Looking For Someone features this AmAdd9 chord. In the context of this particular song, it is used in a jazzy way after a short run down from a standard Am chord. The add9 at the top takes a regular minor chord and makes it very interesting.

With its jazz sound this is great as a passing chord, or to use when combining rhythm with lead guitar playing.

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Brian May, best known for his work with Queen, has many distinctive features. He has one of the most iconic haircuts in rock, he plays a guitar made from a fireplace, has an instantly recognisable guitar tone and pushes Vox AC30s to places that no other mortal has ever pushed them. But when it comes down to chords, we don’t often spend much time talking about Brian. Until now. 

In this lesson we’re going to check out four chords from some Queen classics and look at how Brian uses them, and hopefully inspire your own rhapsodies. 

A6sus4

This chord, features during the intro of the track Hammer to Fall. Brian alternates between the A major chord and the 6sus4 extension for a Keith Richards-style swagger to the intro.

The 6sus4 chord is a very melodic variation to any chord and works great when paired with the major chord (played in an A major form) and moved back and forth.

The easiest way to approach this is to play your A major chord as a first finger barre, then use your second and third fingers to extend the chord.

Play guitar like Queen's Brian May

Dsus4

A big part of the Queen guitar sound is their ability to make everything sound orchestrated. Inside this there is a sense of tension and resolve. Suspended chords are a great way to bring some tension and resolve into your own playing.

At the start of the track Crazy Little Thing Called Love, you hear a simple D chord vamp which alternates between a major and Dsus4 chord. 

This movement sounds melodic, but also creates a resolved sound when the major chord is returned to.

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A5/E

This chord is a blink and you'll miss it moment in the track Another One Bites the Dust. It appears in the funky rhythm that underpins the verses. Brian hits this A5/E chord in passing between the Emin and Amin chords of this section.

This is an easily transposable shape so can be played anywhere on the guitar.

This is an A5 chord with the 5th (The E) added again in the bass.

A major

In most circumstances an A major chord isn’t all that exciting, but this A major taken from the track We Will Rock You is a little different. 

Instead of the notes of the chord being the Open A and the 2nd fret on the D, G and B strings, those fretted notes have been moved up an octave to the 14th fret. This gives the chord a completely new flavour.

On the track, it actually goes back and forth between A and A6sus4, so brush up on both those shapes!

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Although Eric Clapton came to prominence as a lead guitar player through the 1960s, many of his biggest hits have featured some great chord work.

Clapton is a player who has proudly moved between different styles. His musical career has taken him from blues to pop, reggae, country and back again as we hone in four key chords from the career of old Slowhand himself to help you mine some inspiration for yourself.

D

Usually, there wouldn’t be much special about a D chord, but this D chord is a little different. This D chord is featured in the track Sunshine Of Your Love. It’s a D major triad, spread out over the E, A and G strings (With the D string muted). 

Think of this as a two string power chord with the major third added at the top. This is a great way to add a major flavour to a power chord riff without resorting to full barre chords.

E/G#

Inversions are a great way to unlock additional tones and voicings from chords that you might use everyday. This E/G# is one of the chords from the track Tears In Heaven that was a moving highlight of Clapton's iconic 1992 MTV Unplugged performance.

What we have here is just an E major triad, but the root is on the B string, the 5th on the G and the major third on the low E. This inversion, coupled with the pitch gap between the low G# and the other notes, gives this E major triad a new identity.

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G 

Clapton has dabbled with some reggae stylings over the years, one of his most prominent ventures into this style was his cover of the Bob Dylan classic Knockin’ On Heaven's Door. 

This G Major triad is a great example of a shortened major barre chord that can be used in a reggae-style track. Although this is just a simple major triad, it’s use in this context is very effective. It also frees up sonic space in the spectrum for other instruments in the mix.

G6

This opening chord from the track Wonderful Tonight has a slightly jazzy undertone. We don’t tend to see the 6th interval added to major chords in most rock and pop music.

The G major triad is played on the D, G and B strings, as if you were taking it from a regular 6 string barre chord, and the 6 interval is added on top as the open high E string.

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The Beatles are the most recognisable band of all time. Their music has stood the test of time for seven decades. They were at the forefront of the rock revolution of the 1960s and they paved the way for many musicians to follow in their footsteps – especially guitarists.

Even though the band's recording career lasted less than a decade, their influence has remained strong to this day with modern bands still quoting the Fab Four as an influence on songwriting and techniques.

Through their stellar catalogue of music, there are so many lessons we as guitar players can learn and use in our own playing. In this lesson we’re going to talk about five things you can learn from John, Paul and George to put to use right away.

Check out the video and follow along with the tips below on subjects including chord progressions and fingerpicking.  

1. Using the relative minor for contrast

When writing a song, having contrasting sections is important because this is one trick that hooks the listener in and keeps their attention. Contrast also allows a song to move through different moods and emotions.

One thing the Beatles did to create this effect is to switch to a relative key for a section change. In this example, we’re going to use the song Misery from 1963 Please Please Me. This song is in the key of C Major. All keys have a relative key which means it shares all the notes/chords with another key. C Major’s relative key is A Minor. These two keys share the same notes and chords:

Although both keys share the same chords, the emphasis is on the I chord, this is the chord that gives the key it’s overall identity. If your progression focuses on the I as a major chord, the progression feels Major, if it emphases the I as a minor chord, the opposite is true.

We can use this as a turning point in a song to keep the overall key and chord sequence intact, but change the mood of the song.

In the song Misery, the verse progression uses the chords C, F and G, but the chorus switches to Am, C and G. This change creates a contrasting section that takes on a different feel.

2. The minor IV chord

If you want to add a little bit of excitement into your major chord progressions, you can take a leaf out of the Beatles and add a Minor IV chord. This is a chord that is not usually found in a major key, but introducing it can be a really great way to spice up a chord progression.

This works great in slower songs, such as the classic In My Life.

This song is made up of an A Major (I), E Major (V), F#m (VI) and D (IV), but after the D chord, there is a brief move to the Dm (Minor IV) before returning to the root.

While the Minor IV chord does not necessarily fit into the key, it can be a great passing chord on the way back to the root. It creates a moment of tension before resolving back to the I chord. 

3. Outlining a chord progression

If you are playing in a two-guitar band, or just want to write two guitar parts that weave in and out of each other, you can learn a lot from the Harrison/Lennon approach.

In the song I Saw Her Standing There, you can hear two different guitar parts that are both different, but complementary to each other.

One guitar is playing a I IV V progression using E7, A7 and B7 chords while the other is playing two different parts over the progression. The first part is an E7 triad without the E note, mixed with a simple lead lick. The second part is a walking blues style riff that frames the chords being played by the other guitar.

In isolation, both parts are very different, but when overlaid on each other, they create a really interesting sound where one guitar plays the straight chords and the other frames the progression with other voicings or single notes.

Using deceptive cadences

Sometimes when you hear a new song for the first time, or you write a chord progression on your guitar, you may have a sense of familiarity even if you’ve never heard or played that particular piece before. This is cause by our ears recognizing things in the composition that it deems familiar.

This is usually chord progressions. As we found in our study of Taylor Swift's hit songs, we have these, and specific chord resolutions and movements that we hear in most of our favourite tracks. Our ears become tuned to hearing these things.

If you want to add something to a song that breaks this familiar feeling, you can use a deceptive cadence. This is when we bring a new chord into the progression that does not belong to the progression before resolving it back into the progression that we expect.

In the Beatles track P.S I Love You we hear this in action. The track is in the key of D Major, so we expect these chords:

For the most part, this is what we get. However, before the track goes to the C, you’ll notice an out of place Bb Major chord being played. This would be a bVI chord, which is not part of the major key of D major. This borrowed chord creates a feeling of tension before going back to the C chord which we expect to hear.

A deceptive cadence is a great way to attract some attention to a part of a song by making the listener really aware that something has changed. This doesn’t just work with a bVI chord. You can try this with any chord that is not part of the key you’re playing in. 

5. Paul McCartney's Blackbird fingerpicking

The picking pattern for the song Blackbird is probably one of the biggest Beatles riffs that people play wrong. Often notated as entirely fingerpicked, this classic track is actually played by Paul McCartney with a really unique fingerstyle approach.

Rather than picking every single note, the pattern utilizes single-picked notes along with micro strums with the index finger.

The pattern can be broken up into two halves. The first half involves playing the A and B strings with the thumb and index finger at the same time. Then you play the G and B strings with the index finger in a mini downward strum motion, before up picking the single B string with the same index finger.

The second half starts with the A string being played with just the thumb, the B string being picked with an index finger upstroke and ending on an index finger downward, micro strum of the G and B strings. 

This rhythm can be applied to other chords and used in your own songwriting to create some fast-paced feeling fingerstyle riffs and progressions. Try it with some open and barre chords and feel the driving energy that it gives your own chord progressions.

• "The Beatles were never afraid to experiment with their chord choices inside songs": here are 4 to inspire your guitar playing

Bruce Springsteen knows a thing or two about writing an anthem. When you think of his tracks you think of epic storytelling, huge anthemic hooks and choruses you want to sing for days.

But what goes on under the hood? In this lesson we’re going to check out four key chords from some of Bruce’s biggest hits.

They don’t call him The Boss for nothing!

E5

An E5 is a chord you’ll probably have seen countless times. Typically, it’s just a regular E power chord right? 

In the Born In The USA track I’m On Fire, the arpeggiated guitar line plays the E5 power chord with an additional B note on the 4th fret of the G. While this extra note still maintains the name of E5 (Because the B note is the 5 interval in the chord), it makes for a nice melodic extension on a chord you probably use daily.

C#min

In the track Dancing In The Dark, the C#min chord in the verse is played in this manner. This is pretty much identical to how you’d usually play a C#min chord except instead of barring across all the string to sound the 4th fret of the high E, you play that string open.

This means the E note you’re playing on the 5th fret of the B is doubled, giving the top end of the chord a slight chorusing effect.

It’s a subtle detail but makes for interesting chord adaptations.

Fno5/A

This is quite an unusual chord, it’s the start of an F major chord, without the 5 interval, but with an additional A in the bass. The A is the major 3rd interval in an F chord, but in this instance, it’s holding the root as well.

You can hear this in the second verse of the track Thunder Road.

This very simple chord gives you the sound of an F major without needing to play all the notes, freeing up a lot of sonic space for the other instruments in the mix.

E5

Here’s another E5 variant, this time from the track Born In the USA.

This takes the form of what you’d see on paper as an E minor chord but upon closer inspection you’ll see the open G muted. The G note here is the minor 3rd of the E minor chord, If you remove this you are left with E notes and B notes, meaning although you’re hearing 5 strings rung out, you’re only hearing the notes that make up an E5 chord.

This extended E5 shape is great for hitting hard with a touch of overdrive and with a lot of Springsteen style voicings, frees up some sonic space for other instruments to hit the major 3rd.

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Bruno Mars might not be your typical guitar slinger, but his funk-inspired pop is full of fantastic chords and interesting voicings. In this lesson we’re going to break down a few funky chord choices from some of Bruno’s hits.

As well as his own guitar chops, some big-name players have contributed to Bruno’s work, both live and in the studio. You can expect to hear guitar tracks on record and live from Mateus Asato, Mark Ronson and Phredley Brown among others.

Let’s check out some chords from Bruno’s catalogue and get funky!

Fmin9

The Fmin9 chord is a fantastic funk chord. You can hear it all over the Bruno Mars track 24K Magic. It’s refreshing to hear interesting chords like a min9 across a mainstream track.

This makes a great substitute for any Minor or Minor 7 style chord, the 9 combined with the b3 makes for a dark but funky sound.

This shape can be a bit of a stretch when you play it from lower root notes, but it’s worth the stretch!

G#maj7

This G#maj7, as heard in Treasure, is an interesting take on the chord, because although this is technical a major 7, the major 3rd has been removed.

In funk, a lot of the time guitar players will remove notes from chords to free up space for other instruments in the mix. This is a great example of how an important note can be removed, but the chord can still function as intended. This contains just the 1, 5 and 7.

C#7

In the track Billionaire, which is a Travie McCoy track Bruno guested on (but he himself regularly plays on his own tours), starts with a laid-back acoustic loop. This loop contains a C#7 chord with the lowest 5th removed.

The root is handled with the thumb and the higher notes with the index finger and middle finger (Though the third finger will also work). This removal of duplicate intervals is a great way to free up some space in a chord and make it sound more “to the point”. 

B7#9

On the Silk Sonic track Fly Like Me, you can hear this great variation of the E7#9 'Hendrix' Chord. This is a chord that you don’t often see many players shift around but, in this track, there are a few James Brown-style stabs with this famous chord rooted from a B.

Mateus Asato handles guitar duties live for this project but it’s likely that the studio guitar was tracked by Mars himself.

• Learn 4 John Frusciante Red Hot Chili Peppers guitar chords

A power chord is nothing more than a two- or three-note chord, and they get their name from their punchy sound. Check out our quartet of quick tips to get yours recharged today.

1. Turn it upside down  

For a different take on the basic power chord shape, try ditching the root note and playing the 5th interval as the lowest note instead. 

You still need to play the root note, but it should be higher pitched than the 5th. This gives you a slightly thinner sound than the three-string voicing, but the benefit is that you can play the shape with just one finger, which makes for easy improvising. 

2. Add A♭2ND OR A♭5TH

Power chords sound solid, steady and, err, powerful thanks to the root note and the 5th being in ‘perfect’ harmony. You can adapt this safe-sounding chord and generate some nastier thrash metal-style dissonance by alternating the root note with a b2nd (a semitone higher than the root note). 

So, for example, with a G5 power chord you’d end up playing G5/G# (a G5 over a G# root note). Alternate the 5th note with a b5th (a semitone lower than the 5th interval) for a nice variation on the theme.

3. Add9

You’d better get that pesky, unruly pinky finger of yours in good shape quick sharp because you’ll need it here. You’re adding another note to the power chord formula this time around. 

First of all you have your root note and second note two frets up from that as before; but now you’re going to add a third two frets up again on the G string. 

This may seem like an awkward shape at first (practice by playing The Police’s Message In A Bottle – it’s all Add9 chords) but it’s worth it because it adds a majestic dimension to your riffs and rhythms.

4. Detune

The rise of progressive metal has seen guitarists hitting new lows in terms of the pitch they’re playing on seven- and eight-string guitars.

Power chords played on these guitars sound totally different to a standard tuned six-string. Even if you don’t own a guitar with an extra string, there’s nothing to stop you down-tuning your six string to B standard (B E A D F# B) for some serious low-end. If you want to go as low as an eight-string, you’ll need heavier gauge strings so you can tune to F# B E A C# F#.

• Are you getting the most out of your power chords? Tom Bukovac has a tip from the Rolling Stones guitar playbook

The guitar world is full of information that may seem obvious to one player, but could be revelatory to another. Assumed knowledge is dangerous because it can alienate us – and the more we can all share, the better. This Tom Bukovac tip on power chords is a case in point. 

The acclaimed Nashville session ace's YouTube Homeskoolin' series is probably the greatest source of guitar advice you'll find for free online – it's not just about playing, but the whole approach of being a successful musician.  Uncle Larry (Bukovac's nickname) is an endless well of advice and inspiration. And the subject of power chords is no exception.

After illustrating the popular Chuck Berry technique of alternating the fifth and sixth with your pinkie finger during a power chord, he introduces another way to spice up your chords that's overlooked by many. And it takes a leaf out of the Rolling Stones playbook.

"It's the oldest trick in the rock 'n' roll book but it's amazing how many people don't know that," notes Tom. It involves playing the root chord and then hammering on part of another chord – playing a G and then hammering on part of a C chord, as he illustrates in the video above. 

And there's more…

"If you want to get really cool you can do this kind of thing," says Tom as he hammers on an A and an F# and keeps the B root note. "It's another way of doing that sort of rock that you would do on the piano where you've got the four chord basically over the one."

So plenty for us to explore here – check it out in the video above to learn more, and dig into other ways to power up your power chords in our own lesson. 

Subscribe to Tom Bukovac's YouTube channel for more great insights. 

 Johnny Marr is one of the greatest guitarists the UK has produced – as a teenager he explored and honed a comprehensive and fresh style, drawing from post-punk and far beyond. Marr's rhythm work with The Smiths was so creatively dynamic he was often credited with taking influence from afrobeat – but this was actually just coincidental.   

As a result of his rapid evolution as a guitarist, Marr's chord choices from his five years with The Smiths reveal some inspirational examples. Here are four to try…  

Add9

This chord uses three open strings, creating a rich droning effect, heard in The Smiths’ Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now. 

Use fingers 2 and 3 to fret the 6th and 7th frets and keep your fingers arched to avoid any accidental string muting.

C/A

Johnny uses this chord in The Boy With The Thorn In His Side. The upper four strings are essentially a C triad ‘C E G’, but is voiced in an interesting way with the highest note on the 2nd string. The open A bass note gives the chord an Am7 sound.

Gmaj7/B

This chord from Cemetery Gates is paired with a regular G chord shape and is a neat way of adding a Maj7 in the open position G. Use fingers 2 and 3 to fret the chord and use your thumb over the top of the neck to help mute the 6th string.

Cmaj9

For The Headmaster Ritual, Johnny tunes to open E, which is E B E G# B E from low to high (basically tune your open strings to an E barre chord). 

Try starting with this chord shape on the 8th fret root, but discover more chords by moving the shape up and down the neck while letting the top two strings ring out.

You can also try taking a lesson on the song from the man himself below! 

• 5 songs guitarists need to hear by Johnny Marr

Phoebe Bridgers is making some serious waves in the Indie world. Her music is based around intricate acoustic folk ideas with layers of electronic elements, dreamy vocals and melancholic lyrical themes.

With folk being the heart of her writing style, most of her songs have a strong guitar theme throughout and included in this are some very interesting chords. In this lesson we’re going to look at some of those for inspiration.

Em6

The track Would You Rather features this really interesting Em6 chord. Min6 chords are not typically found in many mainstream songs. These chord types are usually found in Jazz.

In this song, the Em6 is one of the final chords you hear in the song. The m6 chord always feels unresolved and adds a sense of tension to a progression.

Gmaj7

In the chorus of the track ICU you will hear this arpeggiated Gmaj7 chord. This particular 4 string voicing of a maj7 chord has a somewhat haunting quality instead of the usual rich and melodic sound we expect from maj7 chords.

With this major7 voicing, all the notes are stacked in order from root to maj7.

G/B

This chord, found in the intro to the song Demi Moore, is a G major triad with a B in the bass. This is an interesting voicing because it can be used in two different ways.

This chord shape is a great way to use a triad as your chord with some alternate bass notes. This can be especially useful in a song with a moving bassline that moves around a single chord.

Dadd4

The Dadd4 chord that starts the track Garden Song is a really easy chord to play, but adds a very interesting substitution for a D chord to your arsenal. The studio version of the track is tuned down a full step to D standard tuning, but this chord also works in standard tuning.

The add4 note is different to the sus4 that you might usually add to a D. Instead of the tension of a sus4, we’re adding the 4 as an add4 alongside the existing major chord to give a very harmonically rich-sounding chord.

Some people love Taylor Swift, some people… they don't get it or care to. But love her or hate the furore around her, it’s hard to deny the impact she is having on the world as an artist, and its heart are her songs. 

Swift not only knows about writing a pop/country crossover mega-hit, but she is also influencing a new generation of budding musicians to get interested in and pick up instruments.

In this lesson we’re going to look at some common chords and chord progressions that Swift has used in some of her biggest hits. 

If you’re already writing songs, or you’re looking to start, you can use these proven progressions and ideas in your own playing and songwriting. Check out the chords and progressions, as well as the video below. 

Taylor Swift's go-to chords 

For the most part, the chords featured in the majority of Taylor Swift’s biggest songs are pretty standard. This is great news for guitar players of all ability levels, because even if you’re a complete beginner, there is something you can learn from this.

Her songs, having a strong country influence, will feature a lot of strummed open chords. Inside some of her biggest hits you’ll find chords like:

Alongside the usual open chords, you will find some barre chords including these:

You won’t find a lot of chords with more complex voicings in many of her songs, but occasionally you will find some chords like add9 or sus4 chords. There are few used in this lesson:

The chords listed here are not the only chords you’ll find in her songs, but as a general overview you’ll definitely need a good knowledge of all your regular open and barre chords, and then occasionally dropping into dom7, add9 or sus4 style chord extensions when the song calls for it. 

Chord progressions and what they mean

The next step in songwriting is to put the chords together in a chord progression. You can either strum chords and random and see what sounds/feels good, or you can approach it with a little music theory knowledge to help you plan what you want to play.

When it comes to Taylor Swift’s approach to chord progressions, one thing that sticks out is her use of very common progressions. From a listener’s perspective, this means that some of her songs might have a familiar sound or feel to the listener, even if you’ve never heard it before.

As songwriters, this feeling of familiarity is a useful songwriting tool. If we can write a song that feels or sounds familiar to a listener, it can serve as a way to grab someone’s attention because they can instantly feel a connection to the song upon hearing it for the first time.

We can utilise this with progressions of chords, or chord resolutions, that have been tried and tested in countless other big hits.

In this lesson all the chords will be coming from the major scale. Whatever key you are playing in, each note of the major scale for that key will have a different chord type associated with each note. The notes are given a numerical value known as intervals:

All the examples in this lesson are in the major key so we will be using this system. 

One thing that Taylor Swift leans into a lot are songs based around a 1 4 5 progression. This is the chord progression that blues music is based around and it has also been used for country, classic rock and so much more.

The 1 4 5 progression is instantly familiar to our ears as it is one of the most common progressions in Western music.

In most of the examples in this lesson, those three chords will be found together along with an additional chord. In most of these songs, Taylor will have added a minor chord to contrast the major 1, 4 and 5 chords used. 

As well as doing this, the order of the chords can also be changed up. This creates different feelings within the progression as you get different musical movements and resolutions between chords.

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together – 4 1 5 6 progression

This song has the C chord substituted for a Cadd9 and the D substituted for a Dsus4. The chords are played in a 4 1 5 6 order:

This progression starts with a movement from the 4 chord to the 1 and is a type of chord movement that is often found in Western worship music at the end of traditional hymns. This sort of movement can create an uplifting feeling inside a progression.

The movement to the 5 chord is very common in rock and pop, we hear the 1 to 5 movement in so many songs. 

The contrast comes when the 6 chord comes in at the end which shifts the feeling a for a moment.

This chord progression is a great starting point if you want to write a song with an uplifting or anthemic feeling.

Anti-Hero – 4 1 5 6 progression

Anti-Hero actually follows the exact same progression as the previous song, but in the key of E. 

The chords used are:

Even though this song uses the exact same intervallic progression as the previous song, it highlights the importance of what you play in a progression that creates a different feeling. The first song has a little more space giving it what more anthemic feeling. This song is a little faster paced which gives it more of a driving pop feel.

The same progressions can be played in different tempos and styles to shift the mood of the song

Back to December – 1 6 4 5 progression

This song has is more of a ballad feeling progression and is in the key of D major:

The chords used in this progression from the verse of the song are:

The first thing you might notice is that this song uses the same four chords as the previous songs, but reshuffled to a different order. 

The first thing to notice is the movement from the 1 chord gives us the key, to the 6 chord which is a minor. This creates a very different feeling than what we heard in the previous movements. 

This movement, although the song is a major key, makes it feel a little more like a ballad-style progression. 

In the final bar of this progression there is also a return to the 1 chord briefly before going to the 5. When the progression ends on the 5 chord, it turns around back to the 1 again for the next bar. This is known as a perfect cadence and is used in countless mega-hits. 

This is one of the most familiar resolutions and also one of the most pleasing-sounding. It gives the listener a sense of closure and ending in a progression

Cruel Summer – 1 3 6 4 Progression 

The song Cruel Summer uses a slightly different progression which gives it more of a singer-songwriter feeling. This is in the key of G Major:

This chords used in this song are:

In this track, the 5 chord has been removed but this one also contains a 3 chord. The lack of the 5 chord in the progression means you don’t get that perfect cadence resolution, which means the progression will always have a slight tension or unresolved feel to it. This is great for setting the scene for a more moody song.

Even though the song doesn’t have that complete resolution we expect, it does end on a 4 chord which resolves back to the 1. This is known as a Plagal Cadence. It's the same movement featured in the first track we talked about, and is the technique used a lot in Western worship music to create that uplifting feel.

August – 1 4 2 5 progression

This final progression has a more country ballad-style feel and uses a 2 chord in place of a 6 chord from previous progressions. This one is in the key of D Major:

The chords used in this song are: 

This progression has a few interesting things to take note of. Inside this progression is the familiar 1 4 5 that we’ve talked about a few times, this is the blues progression, and can make a track sound and feel familiar to us.

The other thing is the use of the 2 chord instead of the 6. This minor chord on the 2 makes it feel less like a pop ballad progression and leans more into Taylors early country influences. The 2 chord was used a lot in Jazz and more traditional music styles. It’s not often found in mainstream pop songs.

This progression also ends on the 5 chord which means we get that complete resolution at the end with the perfect cadence that takes us back to the 1 and gives the progression a completed feel.

Key points to takeaway 

This lesson has raised a few points that are worth taking away and keeping in mind when you’re writing a song. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner guitar player trying to write your first song, or if you’re an advanced player looking to craft a chart-worthy pop hit, this approach will still be relevant.

The first major takeaway is that great songs don’t need to be jam-packed full of complex chords. Those chords have their place in music, but if you’re trying to write a catchy, pop song then sometimes sticking to the basics is better than overloading the song with harmonic information.

The other big lesson is that our chord progressions are very important. The choice of chords and the order you place them can play a big part in how that song feels. This means we can write songs that people feel are familiar or recognizable without even having heard them. If you break down the progressions of other big hits, you’ll probably find lots of similarities in their approaches to progressions too.

• Taylor Swift producer Jack Antonoff reveals his top 10 vocal plugins and recording techniques

In this episode of our signature artist chords series we're focussing on a player whose inventive approaches to rhythm work are sometimes overlooked, and we're delighted to see John Frusciante bringing that creativity back with the Red Hot Chili Peppers following his return to the band in 2019. 

G

John Frusciante’s chord style is heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix and one of the features of his playing is thumbing the 6th string root note. One cool benefit of this is that it frees up the fourth finger, which you can use to add melodic notes on the highest three strings.

Am add9

Here is a minor alternative to a thumbed root note chord. Here the fourth finger is adding a 9th interval to the Am triad, but you can experiment by moving that note to other tones in the minor pentatonic or Dorian mode.

E9

Also known as the James Brown chord, this funky shape brings to mind percussive playing in songs such as Suck My Kiss or By The Way. Experiment with changing the pressure on the strings to alternate between percussive mutes and the full chord.

Dmaj7

The Maj7 is a warm, rich sounding chord which crops up in Under The Bridge. Adding the Major 7 interval to the Major triad evokes classy jazz vibes. Make sure each note rings clean by keeping your fingers arched and out of the way of the adjacent string.

Four John Mayer chords to try 

Prolific songwriter, visionary and a gifted musician on numerous instruments, but it was with electric guitar that Prince used tp soar as high as his vocal register. He was simply one of the greatest players to ever pick up the instrument, bringing a producer and songwriter's ear to his parts and sounds that will continue to resonate through the ages. He was also quite a chordsman. 

Here are just four examples of Prince's use of voicings to enhance much-loved songs from his catalogue. Including one of the most iconic opening guitar chords of all time… 

E9

There are many ways of playing an E9, but this particular voicing is instantly recognisable as the opening chord from Kiss. The intervallic structure from low to high is: b7, 9, 5 and the root note is on the highest string. Mute the 5th and 6th string with your thumb over the top of the neck, so you can strum the chord without the open strings ringing out.

F7sus4

This funky F chord features in 1999 and is a variation on the regular F7, root 5th string shape. Use your 1st finger to barre across the 8th fret and your 4th finger to barre across strings 1 and 2. Keep your thumb in the middle of the back of the neck to keep your wrist and hand relaxed with this stretch.

Bbadd9

This lush, chord kicks off Purple Rain and is an inversion of a Bb add9, with the major 3rd of the chord in the bass, then the root, 9 and 5th on the highest 3 strings; all creating an iconic sound which instantly evokes Prince’s most loved anthem.

A7#9

The 7#9 chord is a staple of funk music and although this chord is more commonly played at the 12th fret root, in the ‘Hendrix’ shape, the Sexy MF guitar part occasionally hits a 5th interval on top, which is achieved up at the 17th fret, making for a cool and useful variation on the sound.

• Learn 4 John Mayer guitar chords

While these six chords are great choices for classic rock styles, the truth is they're useful for all kinds of players to learn. 

Note the slash chords’ alternative bass notes here (notes shown after the / mark), giving a subtly different feel to basic major chords. For example, D5 and A/C# is the kind of move you’ll hear in Queen’s One Vision. 

Use two-, three- or four-note shapes and pick firmly for a tight, focused rock-style delivery. Alternatively, make use of the open sixth string in the E and D/E chords for a weightier impact, the way Jimmy Page does in Led Zeppelin’s roof-raising classic Whole Lotta Love.

Tone tips: Aim for the mid-rich overdrive tones of '70s rock here - that’s before the high-gain madness of the '80s and '90s really kicked in, so keep the drive at a medium level for authenticity. 

Classic rock track 

This '70s rock-style example is a cross between the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith, but also in the territory of Paul Kossoff of Free. 

A slash chord puts an alternative bass note at the bottom of a chord, giving it a slightly different feel. This is great for creating riffs, as you will hear!

Click on the top right of the tab to enlarge it 

• Learn 4 Jimmy Page guitar chords from classic Led Zeppelin and The Firm songs

If there is one band who aren’t short of a few killer songs in their career, it’s the Foo Fighters. Fronted by multi-instrumentalist and all-around music lover, Dave Grohl, the Foos continue to release album after album of hard-hitting, hook-filled pop rock.

Inside some of these catchy tunes lie really interesting voicings. In recent years they have expanded to a three-guitar lineup which opens up some additional sonic spectrum when it comes to using unique chord voicings to fill out the sound of the songs.

In this lesson we’re going to check out four really cool Foo Fighters chords.

C#min7 (no 5th)

The track Best of You has become one of the band's most iconic tracks. The first chord in this song you hear is a really interesting chord. It’s harmonically rich and has a very jangly sound.

The chord is actually a variation on a C#min7, but without the 5th interval (The G#) present. The open strings paired with the three fretted notes give this chord a sound that does not actually sound like what we’d expect a minor7 chord to sound like.

D13 (no 3)

This chord is one of the band's more unusual choices. This chord could have many names depending on how you interpret the notes – which unusually are A B C and D. Based on the key of the song the most logical naming for this would be D13(no3), in essence, a D13 chord without the major 3rd.

This chord is one of two chords that make up the intro to the track Times Like These. The other chord, is exactly the same chord, but you release the 5th fret on the A to an open string making it an Amadd9add11. 

This chord has a jangly sound reminiscent of many '60s psychedelic pop tracks. The b9 interval gives it a slightly unresolved feel, similar to a sus2 chord.

Db/G

This is a very unusual chord for the chorus of a big rock song. In the chorus of the track All My Life, you hear this Db/G chord. This chord is based around the C shape of the CAGED system but with the barred finger extending down to cover the G note on the Low E string also.

This is a very rich sounding chord that really fills a lot of sonic space. 

E5

In the track Learn To Fly you hear this extended E5 chord. Think of this as an Em with the 4th fret of the G added. This note is a B note which replaces the minor 3rd of the chord. This means what you’re now playing is a six-string chord made up of only root notes and 5th, giving you an extended power chord.

This is a great chord to use to bulk out a recorded guitar part without clashing with any major or minor notes.

• Triad chords could be your new secret guitar weapon: here are 3 reasons why

As you’re learning guitar, you’ll hopefully hear other musicians talking about triads – it means they're privy to a key of chord knowledge that unlocks a world of creativity in your playing. And today you can learn it too.  

Triads are great ways to change up what you do with chords and add a new level of interest to your guitar playing, and in this lesson with chord boxes and video we’re going to dig into what they are and look at three great ways you can start using them today. 

What are triads and how can we get them from chords? 

A triad is a chord that has been distilled down to three notes. The bare essentials of that particular chord. 

In this lesson we’re going to be using an A major and A minor barre chord and extracting triads from these chords:

Even though these are chords that sit across all 6 strings of the guitar, there are only 3 different notes inside of each chord. These notes are referred to by their interval number in music theory, which is 1 3 5 for the major chord and 1 b3 5 for the minor chord. 

The triads we’re going to be looking at are made up of those three intervals. We are going to be removing all the duplicate notes from the chord.

You can find the first major triad that we’ll be using on the D, G and B strings:

To turn this into a minor triad you just flatten the 3rd which in this position is the note on the G string. This turns the triad into a minor triad:

There are also triads in this lesson that sit on the G, B and E strings. In the first triad, the lowest note of each triad is the root of the chord, but in these triads, the lowest note is the 3rd. These are known as inversions. This is when you have the same three notes of a chord but they are stacked in a different order.

All these triads are derived from the 6 string major and minor chords. There are triads all over the guitar, but when you’re new to triads, this is the easiest place to start. Start with triads that come from familiar chord shapes and then as you develop your knowledge, you can expand your triad use all around the fretboard.

1. Using triads to frame existing chord progressions

If you’re writing your own songs, or you play in a two-guitar band, triads are a great way to add some additional layers to your chord progressions.

In the video above you will see a simple chord progression made up of A, D and E chords. This idea applies to any progression regardless of complexity, but when you start integrating triads into your writing process it’s best to start simple to get a handle on the concept.

Using the triads, you can strum the chord progression with triads to add a layer in a higher register, or you can arpeggiate the triads to add some melodic movement over the top of the progression.

2. Using triads for funk 

Triads are perfect for playing funk!

When you start to play funk, each instrument occupies a specific frequency range in the sonic spectrum, while leaving room for the other instruments. The low end in a funk mix is typically occupied by the bass, and the lower mids can be occupied by the brass and horns.

The guitar does not take the lead role in funk, it becomes more of a rhythmic instrument with the occasional single-note line. Most funk guitar players will keep the rhythm tight and choppy without overplaying.

So when playing funk, you want to avoid doing full chords so you don’t creep into the frequency space of the other instruments.

This is what makes using triads an essential part of this style. Start playing funk rhythms with the higher triads on the G, B and E strings and leave the low end for other instruments in the mix. With these triads, you can do a few cool things to spice up your funk rhythms. 

The first is to do a semitone slide into the triad. Wherever the triad you’re playing is, start one fret lower and slide into your target chord on the start of your rhythmic phrase.

You can also experiment with chord extensions by using a free finger to add other notes in and out of the chord as you rhythmically play. There are theoretical ways to work out the correct notes, but in the early stages of using triads just experiment with the idea and let your ears tell you what sounds good.

3. Using triads for Hendrix/Mayer/Frusciante-style rhythm guitar

If you’re a fan of Jimi Hendrix, John Mayer or John Frusciante, you will no doubt have witnessed their approach to rhythm guitar. This method uses triads but with the addition of the thumb playing the root note on the low E string.

This is a great way to add the additional low-end reinforcement of a full chord while still removing some notes to free up some sonic space. The other major advantage to this, similar to the funk approach, is having a finger free to add some melodic lines and extensions over the top.

The triads look like this:

Once you’ve got your hands comfortable with these shapes, you can then use your little finger to start adding notes around the chords from the major or minor pentatonic scales based on the chord. 

This works across entire chord progressions. There is an example piece in the attached video using A, F#m, D and E all played with triad shapes and added lead notes over the top.

• Learn the ultimate Jimi Hendrix rhythm guitar chord lesson

Whenever we talk about Jimi Hendrix, we always talk about his blazing lead guitar licks and wild on-stage antics, but underneath the wild guitar heroics lives a rhythm style that is unique and inimitable. 

Here are four chords that Hendrix used on a regular basis to craft his ferocious rhythmic style.

E7#9

This chord is known as The Hendrix Chord. It’s a dominant 7 chord with an added #9. The #9 is a note we typically view as a minor note, it’s also the note known as the b3, but played an octave higher.

This can most famously be heard in Purple Haze and is often paired with the open Low E string. 

C#/A

If we look at this chord based on the notes present, it’s just an A Major Chord with the major 3rd, C#, placed into the bass. However, the sound of this inversion is something Hendrix uses to great effect. Check out the intro for All Along the Watchtower to hear this in action.

Sus2 Triads

These sus2 triad shapes can be moved around easily. They’re rooted off the D string but the G is left muted. Sus2 chords are useful for creating tension inside a chord progression, but Hendrix would also use a series of these chords to create melody inside chord lines, as he does in Little Wing.

Barre Chords as Triads

Ok, so this one is two chords for the price of one. Hendrix would always play major and minor chords as a triad with his thumb playing the root note. This frees up the little finger to add extensions and embellishments. Many Hendrix songs have these chord shapes present, including Bold As Love.

• Learn the ultimate Jimi Hendrix rhythm guitar chord lesson

Elvis and Pink Floyd are dominating South America, Beyonce is huge in Africa but Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah takes the top spot when it comes to what countries are Googling the chords and riffs to learn songs around the world.  

Results from a recent survey by music site Wood And Fire Studio has broken down the top Googled songs from countries around the world so we can get a visual map of who is learning what with their guitars.  

The survey of 271 song chords & riffs in Google's search volume sought to discover the songs currently being played the most around the world.

The chords of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen were the most searched for with 163,453 people searching for them every month. anyone who has stumbled upon the auditions for any TV talent show in the last decade will not be surprised by this whatsoever. 

Indeed, St Vincent recently shared her dislike for the myriad renditions in a BBC Radio 2 interview. “Leonard Cohen‘s Hallelujah is one of the best songs ever written, period,” she said. “It’s an absolute masterpiece, it took them however many years to write. The song itself is about the complication that it is to be alive, and the agony and the ecstasy and all of the inherent conflict therein.

“You know how, for a period of time, it became a song that people would cover on American Idol? They’d sing it and just be like [adopts somewhat whiny singing voice], 'hallelujah, haleluuuujah,' it’s just the worst thing in the world.”

But don't let that put you off – especially in USA, Australia, France, and Sweden where it tops the most Googled chords. 

Ed Sheeran's Perfect is the second most Googled song for chords with 147,479 searches a month and David Gilmour & Co. prove class is permanent with a very respectable third-place showing for Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here with 135,979 searches a month).

Elvis's version of Can't Help Falling In Love with you keeps the romantic flag flying in the southern US states and through much of South American countries including Argentina, Columbia and Mexico, but the British favourite is a Beatles song. 

Let It Be by The Beatles tops the UK list with 21,877 Google searches per month – it's the favourite in Germany too with 24,026 and the fourth favourite worldwide, it takes the fourth spot with a total 131,336 searches per month.

The most Googled guitar riff in the world is a relatively modern classic;  Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes is followed by Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven and Nirvana's Come As You Are. 

Notable in all the lists is now few recent hits are appearing and artists including Radiohead (Creep), Oasis (Wonderwall) and Coldplay (Yellow) frequently appear alongside the likes of The Animals and The Eagles.  

Darius Rucker's Wagon Wheel (2013) and Sheeran's Photograph (2015) and Perfect (2017) are three of the two most recent mainstream hits to emerge as favourites when it comes to chord searches. 

Read more at Wood And Fire Studio. 

There’s much to be gained from trying your hand at different styles of music. Aside from potential improvements to your technique from the challenge of playing new music, you’ll be training your ear as you listen to material that might be off your radar. 

Here, our aim is to help you get to grips with some basic elements of a handful of different styles of acoustic guitar playing. It’s far from extensive, so treat these as bite-sized ideas that you can develop your own music around.

1. Country groove

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For things like this, it’s important to be organised about which picking hand fingers play which string and develop a routine. Here, the thumb plays the bass notes and the first three fingers of the picking hand are assigned to the three treble strings. 

As you develop more complex patterns, you might benefit from deviating from this routine slightly, but this is the foundation of fingerstyle – a platform from which to continue to greater things!

2. Delta blues intro 

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This Robert Johnson-style intro lick has become such a staple in both electric and acoustic blues since it first appeared on record in the early 20th century. Notice the brief statement of the root note on the sixth string E note before each two-bar phrase, giving a clear context for what follows. 

This technique allows more complex parts to be played without the need to be constantly holding down a full chord.

3. Gypsy jazz vamp 

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This rhythmic chord style is the driving force behind Parisian ‘gypsy’ style swing jazz. Swing and jazz chords are very different to country, blues and rock. Instead of the open, ringing voicing of these styles, these chords are usually just three or four notes, with any unwanted strings muted out. 

In this plectrum-strummed example, the fifth string is hardly used at all. Check out Biréli Lagrène, Remi Harris, Jimmy Rosenberg or early pioneer Django Reinhardt for inspiration.

4. British folk

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During the mid/late 1960s, the acoustic guitar played a major part in a folk revival. Players like Bert Jansch took the art of creating self-contained rhythmic and melodic parts to a new level. 

It might be easiest to view this as a melody with a separate bassline played with the thumb and lightly palm-muted to give extra clarity and ‘thump’. Use the first three fingers of your picking hand to play the melody/chords on the second and third strings.

5. Medieval 

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The acoustic guitar has origins stretching back centuries, and this example is inspired by the lute music of medieval times. Also, by the revival in this style inspired by players such as John Renbourn – though even Ritchie Blackmore and Jimmy Page have been interested in this style. 

The opening chords in bars 1, 2 and 3 use the thumb and first three fingers in quick succession to spell out the shape. In bar 4, simply strum gently downwards with your first finger.

6. Flat-picked bluesgrass 

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Using a pick generally gives greater volume and projection, plus opens up greater possibilities for playing rapid-fire runs of notes. The first part of this example plays a melody on the bass notes. 

Between the bass notes, the pick is used to strum lightly on the treble strings, giving a self-contained musical and rhythmic arrangement. The single note line that finishes the piece is played with alternating down and upstrokes of the pick.

7. Modern indie-folk

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Using a capo at the 7th fret gives an almost ukulele style effect – especially if you confine your playing to the higher pitched strings. This works well on its own (as in our audio example) or as an overdub over another lower-pitched acoustic guitar part, giving a complex ‘layered’ sound. 

The regular strumming pattern is also an important ingredient, calling rhythmic ukulele playing to mind. Using a lighter pick can also thin out the tone a little, which is ideal for what we’re going for here.

30 acoustic guitar chords you need to know

When you think of unique chords, the heavy hitting industrial rock stylings of Nine Inch Nails probably doesn’t come to mind.

If you dig underneath the layered synths and dirty bass lines you will find some interesting chords, but be warned, dissonance is high up on the priority list here!

Live guitar duties are handled by long time player, and ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist, Robin Finck, but it’s hard to know who laid down some of the lines in the studio. NIN Mastermind Trent Reznor is no stranger to playing guitar, amongst various other session players the band have worked with.

E5addb9

This chord appears in the verse of Head Like A Hole. It’s essentially an E5 power chord with the octave note sharpened. 

The naming conventions of this chord are a little unorthodox because the E, B and F notes don’t form any specific chord, but we could view it as an Eadd9 (E B F#) with the add9 note flattened to an F.

Dn5/F#

An unusual chord here, this time from the track Sanctified. This is basically a D major chord without the 5. You’re playing a D and F# note, the major third from the chord, and then adding another major 3rd in the bass.

You could also view this as a B minor chord without the B notes.

B5#11

Here’s another very unusual chord for you. This is a B5 chord with an additional #11 note on the top. This is the opening chord to Nine Inch Nails track Hurt, later famously covered by Johnny Cash. 

The #11 on top gives the chord a diminished flavour, this interval after all is an octave about the b5, but paired with the existing natural 5 (The F# note) it doesn’t sound fully diminished to the ears.

Power chords

The humble power chord makes appearances in plenty of NIN songs. Dig into the track The Hand That Feeds and you’ll hear plenty of power chords.

Throw some overdrive on and layer them under the heavy synths and they sound fantastic.

• "It was like someone kissing your girlfriend - it felt invasive": Trent Reznor on first hearing Johnny Cash's Hurt

When you’ve spent time crafting a shimmering clean tone, the first thing you want to do is hit a lush, expansive chord and bathe in the overtones. 

Here’s an unashamedly luxuriant selection of chords – if you’re using effects, try adding a rich hall or plate reverb and a wash of stereo chorus…

Enjoy! 

F#11

Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson is probably responsible for introducing quite a few heavy-rock guitarists to the world of interesting chords, with his extensive use of chiming chorus-laden suspensions. Here’s a nice easy way to play F#11. Turn up the chorus depth control!

Em9sus4

This one lacks a 3rd, so will work in either an E minor or E major (Mixolydian) context. This ambiguity gives it a kind of static, open sound that’s somewhat reminiscent of mid-60s modal jazz. 

Lop off that bottom E and you have a movable minor 11 shape… Bm11 in this position.

Gmaj7sus2

Shimmering clean-tone chords don’t have to have open strings, but as you’ll see, it helps. You can have a wider range of notes without tying your fingers in knots and the open notes always sustain so well. This chord functions either as a D major over a G bass, or as a modified Gmaj7.

D6

This one is a bit of a stretch, so let’s move up the neck to save your tendons. The sweet sound of the major 6th gives this a kind of fake Hawaiian sound, so try using subtle tremolo-bar scoops and vibrato to simulate a lap-steel sound. Maximum cheese!

A6add9

The 6th interval adds a sweetness to the chord, totally unlike the rather detached mystery of the added 9ths and suspended 2nds. This movable shape adds both 6th and 9th for a rich complexity. This chord is very popular in Western swing and other styles related to country and jazz.

Amaj9

Although this is very similar to the previous chord in terms of construction, the major 7th gives it a totally different sound… wistful and slightly sad. Unfortunately, it’s not movable, so you get only the full effect in the key of A.

F#9sus4

This isn’t comfortable, but it’s worth it for the sound! It seems to work best in an F# minor context, but the lack of 3rd means it’ll also work in F# major. In the long run, the easiest way to play it is to barre the 2nd-fret notes with the pad of your second finger. Practice makes perfect…

F#9sus4

This isn’t comfortable, but it’s worth it for the sound! It seems to work best in an F# minor context, but the lack of 3rd means it’ll also work in F# major. In the long run, the easiest way to play it is to barre the 2nd-fret notes with the pad of your second finger. Practice makes perfect…

Emaj9

Here’s another major 9 chord, with a lovely shimmer. Again, it’s not movable in this form, but it can be, if you can do without the bass note. You’ll then be playing a chord without a root note – but hey, that’s what bass players are for, right?

B9sus4

Somehow, the dissonance of most dominant 7th-type chords doesn’t lend itself to shimmering clean tones, but here’s a compromise. This 9sus4 will work in both B major and B minor contexts, as a substitute for a regular B7, or even as a substitute for A major.

Cadd9

The key to this sort of sound seems to be a certain level of complexity. Simple major, minor or powerchords don’t work quite so well. More notes create a wider range of complex overtones, adding to the lushness. Here’s a nice, easy Cadd9 to start with…

Cm7add11

We’ll now skip to some of the ‘flat’ keys, where you may sacrifice some of the open strings, but you’re still left with plenty of possibilities. This movable shape can easily be used in place of the standard minor 7 chord, with the added 11th providing a hint of mystery.

Emadd9

As you can probably imagine, the keys of E major and E minor are great for big shimmering chords, simply because of the pitch range of the open strings available in standard tuning. Let’s have just one more add9 chord, eh?

Gm6

While the major 6th chord is known for its ‘sweet’ qualities, the minor 6th is a very different beast. Is there a hint of Cold War espionage in here? Like all the chords here, this should work well with its neighbours above and below, but also try alternating with a D major (even better with F# in the bass).

Bbadd9/#11

You can use this with or without the high open E note. Without, it’s a standard Bbadd9, and you can use it in place of pretty much any Bb major chord. Add the high E note, and you’re dealing with the Lydian mode (Bb C D E F G A), a far more exotic soundworld!

Dm9

Here’s the easiest of the lot – and note the similarity to the previous chord. You need only two fingers for this Dm9, although strictly speaking, it’s Dm9/A, because the lowest note isn’t the root.

Fmaj7#11

Here’s another chord that may remind you of Alex Lifeson, but it crops up in loads of other musical styles (one of those, sadly, being really bad fake flamenco). Like the Bb chord above, it also has a #11, meaning it works with the Lydian mode (F G A B C D E).

• 22 guitar chords every guitarist needs to know

Some of the very best songwriting is about doing special things with simple parts – Noel Gallagher's work is frequently a prime example and on Oasis's first two albums, along with their bounty of b-sides, he was in incredible form.

Noel definitely has his calling cards when it comes to chord choices and here are four we can all find some inspiration in…

EM7

This Em7 shape is perhaps the signature Oasis chord as it is the opening sound of Wonderwall. The shape uses fingers 1, 2, 3 and 4 in ascending order across the strings. Keep the fingers arched so as not to accidentally mute the 3rd string.

F#m11/C#

This chord shape forms the sound of the opening arpeggio from Supersonic. The three fretted notes are an F# min triad, 1st inversion and the two open strings add a colourful minor 7 and a 9th interval on top. 

Am Add9

Here we have the opening chord from probably the greatest Oasis b-side of them all; The Masterplan. 

It's played with two fretted notes on the middle strings and three open drone strings which give a lush, full sound. Try discovering the rest of the chord progression by shifting the 4th string note down in semitones.

Csus2/B

This chord sounds a little tense on its own, but try applying it to a progression like C, Csus2/B, Am and you’ll have the secret ‘passing chord’ ingredient that makes songs like Don’t Look Back In Anger work so well.

• "To be honest, I don't consider myself a guitarist, so I don't sit around and think about the whole thing too much": Noel Gallagher explains his songwriter mindset in our classic interview

In 2011, MusicRadar sat down with Noel Gallagher to talk about his first solo album, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. As ever, he didn't disappoint as he explored his songwriting and gear approach with bravado and pathos – in equal measures. 

His songs and performances are filled with grace and easy charm - a deceptively casual style that never calls attention to craft. Turns out, the Noel Gallagher one encounters during an interview is very much like the Noel Gallagher on record.

Never once during our conversation – taking place just two hours before he's to appear on stage in Philadelphia with his new band High Flying Birds – does it appear as though the singer-songwriter and guitarist is on auto-script, tossing out pre-planned, well-rehearsed answers. By turns direct, fresh, surprising (even to him, sometimes) and remarkably funny, Gallagher is, as ever, the real deal.

Clearly in a good mood, he admits that he's having a great time on this, his maiden tour as a solo artist. "I'm really enjoying it," he says. "I'm looking forward to every show. I thought that I would be lost in the middle of the stage, but I'm liking it. I can see a long open road in front of me. It turns out that I've grossly underestimated myself."

So far, his solo shows have met with the same glowing enthusiasm as his new album, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, and considering that the disc is one of 2011's best releases - a 10-song, first-listen winner. Tracks like If I Had A Gun and
AKA… What A Life! already play like classics, and the best kind of classics, too: alive, open-hearted, intelligent and endlessly transfixing.

Much has been made of Noel's split from Oasis and his fractured relationship with brother Liam (who now fronts the band Beady Eye) - too much, in fact - so in the following interview, MusicRadar decided to shift the focus to the things that matter most: musicianship, songwriting, production, guitars and gear.

There's something very distinctive about your guitar playing. All you have to do is strum the opening chords to If I Had A Gun or Wonderwall, and we know it's you.

"Really? Huh… Well, that's interesting! [laughs] To be honest, I don't consider myself a guitarist, so I don't sit around and think about the whole thing too much. I only try to think about the songs, you know? I've got my own style on the guitar, sure, and I play rhythm in a certain way, and I use certain inflections. People have said that to me, and I understand it. But I don't have any magic answers - I just do what I do.

"I tend not to play a lot of major chords. I think I drop the major notes and play fifths, you know what I mean? Again, it's nothing I spend a lot of time on. I try to play like myself, and I think I do. But I don't dwell on the whole aspect of guitar technique and stuff. I'm a songwriter."

You say you don't consider yourself a guitarist, but to many people you're more than that - you're a "guitar hero."

"Well, you know what? In Oasis, I was doing a completely different thing than what I'm doing now. I was playing lead guitar. And…I do miss that. I miss being at the end of the stage and just turning up my fucking amp as loud as possible and kissin' the sky. I do miss that, I have to say.

"What I'm doing now, yeah, it's different, so I have to rein in my natural urges to go for it. I'm part of the rhythm section now, so I've got to hold things down. I can't just go off on the guitar. But I'm enjoying that, really. I've got to say, I'm a much better rhythm guitarist than a lead guitarist."

The overall sound of the new album is very lush and full. There's a lot of space between the instruments, whereas on Oasis albums the electric guitars sometimes collided a bit.

"That's because there's only one guitarist on this record. In Oasis, everybody played the fucking guitar, you know? Even the bass player and the singer played the fucking guitar - never mind me and Gem. But you know, you've got to give everybody a crack at the whip; otherwise, what's the point of being in a band?

"It was kind of nice to do it this way. I did the parts and let them breathe, and after that, I was done. Making a record with one guitarist is a vastly different beast than what I'm used to. This time it was one guitarist who also plays the bass, as opposed to three guitarists and a bassist who plays the guitar. Yeah, the songs can breath now - and they're different songs, anyway. It's been a very enjoyable experience."

When you knew you were going to do a record on your own - or records, because you have a second one coming…

"That's right" [the second record, a collaboration with Amorphous Androgynous collaboration was eventually abandoned – Editor].

Was it a bit of a relief to know that you could do what you wanted?

"Well, I've always done demos on my own, even from the early days, so that's not changed. I didn't really enter the studio with any great trepidation. I knew I could do it. No, I was really, really, really looking forward to this.

"The way that I've always worked… or the way that I've always liked to work, and I finally got to do it myself, was to take it one song at a time. I didn't think about an album as such. I had so much material, and it wasn't until I was two weeks into it that I decided I was going to make two records. It was great to do it this way.

"Producers like to record all the drums first, then they do the bass, then all the guitars, so you're constantly moving from one song to another. I fucking hate that! Can't stand it. I'd rather just do a song, finish it and go on to another. That way, you're constantly moving forward every day, and you know where you are, and you don't have to write those stupid fucking charts that they have in studios where you have to check off 'drums' and 'bass' - I hate all of that shit.

"I took it one song at a time, one day at a time. Each song would take two days, so every other day we were starting another one. That kept it moving quite nicely."

When it came to guitars and gear, did you make certain choices to differentiate this album from Oasis records?

"Hmm…[long pause] Well, it is a new sound…but only from taking things away. I didn't invent anything. I just took elements…and the excesses of Oasis, like the extra guitars and the fucking… I just took 'em away. I didn't add anything; I just left the space. The new sound is me singing all the songs and there's one less guitarist.

"As far as amps and stuff, what did I use?... I used a Hiwatt Custom 100, a Blackface Fender '64 Deluxe, an 1980s Vox AC30… I'm not sure I've used any of these on Oasis records before… I can't remember!"

Let's talk about your songwriting. With a song like If I Had A Gun, how long do you slave away at it until you go, 'OK, it's good enough to take to the studio'?

"That one pretty much came off the bat straight away. The rewriting of that was just a matter of dotting the i's and crossing the t's. I pretty much got that one first off. It was an easy one, I've got to say.

"Now, The Death Of You And Me, that one took a long time to write. There were months and months of going back to it, rewriting words and changing little one-liners as they came to me: 'Oh, fuck, that's it!' - you know? It was quite a journey for me, but because of that, it's the one I might be the proudest of. But with If I Had A Gun, it's instant when you hear it because it was instant when I wrote it."

What goes through your head, though, when one song comes quickly and the other is a struggle? Do you tend to think that one might be better for whatever reason?

"Two things can happen: with an easy one, you tend to think, 'Oh, it can't be that good - it was much too easy'. There's no way it can be good. And then on the other side of that, with the song that you have to rewrite and go over, you have to really believe in it. I know I have to reassure myself that a song is good, because it's just too easy to give up and say, 'Fuck it. I'll just write something else.'

"I really stuck it out with The Death Of You And Me. But you have to trust your instincts, your gut reactions. 'Do I like it? Yes. Is it worth the time and effort? Yes.' You have to persevere.

"If I Had A Gun…I knew it was one of the best songs I've ever written. By that yardstick alone, I knew it was good, because I've written some pretty good songs. Every time I played it for myself, I kept getting the same feeling. I thought, Yes! This is going to be a good one. I just knew it. I instantly knew the arrangement, the words, everything. It was just there, and it was special."

Is it too early to talk about the next record, the one you recorded with Amorphous Androgynous?

"Yeah, we can talk about it. I can give you some facts, but I don't want to say too much because there won't be anything to talk about when it comes out. There's 13 tracks on it, three of which are the singles from this album. But they're vastly different versions - they've been remixed and psychedelic-cized.

"There's 10 original songs on it. It's not an electronic record; it's a psychedelic rock record. Ironically, as there's not a lot of guitars on the current record, there's possibly too many on the next. There's a lot of guitars, with various guitar players doing a myriad of styles. Some of it's heavy jazz."

Would you tour with a different band for that record?

"I…think…so. The guys I'm touring with now, they might have other things to do after this is done. I don't know. That's the answer: I don't know. But it would be nice to keep things moving and fluid…fresh."

You have something of a trademark in that you're a big fan of elongated outro sounds. Be it cello, feedback, a keyboard –

"Oh, yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. I don't know why I do it. It's just one of my things, isn't it? I kind of like it. It's just ear candy."

Your Beatles influences have been talked about extensively, but there are a few nods to other bands on this record.

"Oh, a lot!"

In Soldier Boys And Jesus Freaks, there's a bit of a Kinks vibe, and in Stranded On The Wrong Beach, one definitely hears T. Rex.

"Yeah, sure. When I'm making a record, I've always been of the notion that if a song sounds like T. Rex, well, fuck it, let's make it sound more like T. Rex! Do you know what I mean?

"I know there's bands that might write something that sounds like The Smiths, and they'll go, 'Oh, it sounds like The Smiths, we've got to make it sound not like The Smiths.' And I just go, 'Fuck it - let's make it sound like The Beatles. [laughs] If I'm writing a song and I say to myself, 'Oh, hey, it sounds like The Kinks,' then I'm going to turn it into a Kinks track."

There's a choir on a couple of the new songs. Were you referencing Phil Spector and his work on All Things Must Pass?

"I was thinking more spaghetti western…"

Or perhaps The Rolling Stones and You Can't Always Get What You Want?

"Oh, I fucking hate that one! Not the song, I do like the song, but that bit in the beginning - [sings] 'I saw her today…' - I always switch that part right off. No, I don't know…I just heard a choir and I found a choir. I didn't really give these people a brief. I'd rather have them do what they feel, and then we'll take it from there.

"When I'm working with other musicians, whether they're choirs or string sections or the guys in the band, I find that the first thing they say to me is, 'What do you want?' And I'll say, 'Never mind that. I'll know what I want when you play it. You play it the way you see it.' That's how I work with people.

"The choirmaster would ask me how lavish he could get, and I told him, 'Listen to the song, and then just play it as you fucking see it.' So he'd go up and do his thing, and I'd go, 'That bit's great, don't like that bit.' That way, I can get a bit of myself in there, but he'll come up with things I'd never think of, and I'd go, 'Oh, wow! Fucking love that bit.'"

When you recorded the new album, how did you decide which guitars to use on which tracks?

"I kind of trusted my engineer, Paul Stacey, and my co-producer, Dave Sardy. Usually, I just pick my 1960's Gibson 355 – that's the basis for everything. I've got so many guitars, and people just throw things at me. It depends. If I've got a definite idea for something and I cannot be swayed, then that's the end of it.

"I've found out that the more stuff you have, the more confusing it can get. Just bring three or four guitars and three or four amps, and that's the end of it. If you need something to sound like a '60s Vox and you haven't got one, just work on it. You'll get there.

"I'm pretty lucky that Paul has got an incredible ear for guitar sounds, and so does Dave. Paul's an amazing guitarist, as well. He plays the guitar solo at the end of Stop The Clocks, the mad fucking Jeff Beck stuff.

How come he played it and not you?

"'Cause I can't play like that! [laughs] Fucking hell, I can barely play like Peter Green, let alone fucking Jeff Beck."

So the 355 is the basis of your sound right now? You have been playing a Gibson 345 on tour…

"Yeah, the guitars I bring on tour are either 355s or 345s. Those are what I play."

In a promo clip for the album, you're playing an SG.

"That's a new SG. I bought it in Japan. I used it on Record Machine, the part where we had to fill out the power chords – we were going for a Who thing, like in Won't Get Fooled Again. Someone said, 'Try an SG,' and I just happened to have one."

What about some of the other guitars you've used throughout the years? There's the Trini Lopez, the Sheraton…

"I haven't used the Trini Lopez on a track since Don't Believe The Truth, and the Sheraton I haven't used since Morning Glory, really."

How about any of your Les Pauls?

"Yeah, I used a Les Paul on the guitar solo for Record Machine, and I also played it on Stranded On The Wrong Beach."

What about your 1960s Telecasters?

"Oh, you must mean the Esquire. I played it on Dream On, The Death Of You And Me, Soldier Boys And Jesus Freaks and…Broken Arrow, as well, I think."

Acoustic-wise, you've been known to play an Epiphone EJ-200 and a Gibson J-150, but you're using a Martin on stage now, right?

"That's right. It's a D-28, and I bought it brand-new in a shop, just straight off the peg. It's fucking incredible. It's got a new Baggs pickup system in it, which is pretty amazing.

"I didn't use it on the record, though. I used another Martin – it belongs to one of the guys in the studio. I like to use other people's guitars sometimes. So there was this Martin hanging up, so I took it down, started it strumming it, miked it up, and it felt very natural. I used it on all the record. I've since tried to buy the fucking guitar, but the bastard won't sell it to me – probably 'cause he knows it's been on the record now."

Besides the Hiwatt, the Fender and the Vox, were there any other amps you used on High Flying Birds?

"I used a little amp called a Plexi. It's kind of a copy of a Marshall, a JTM45 or something. I think that was it. I must've used a Marshall on something, though. Fuck me, you can't make a record without a Marshall!"

Transferring the sound of the album to the stage, what kind of process did you go through?

"I don't get into the science of live sound, you know what I mean? There are guitarists who try desperately to re-create the sound of the record live, and I just think, What the fuck are you wasting your time for? These people don't give a shit about that. They just wanna rock! They're not going to go, [in a snobby voice] 'Oh, the tune wasn't as great as it was on the record.' They don't give a fuck.

"No, I just use my little Fender Blues Junior and my Hiwatt Custom 100. They're great. That's what I've used live for the last five or six years."

Are you still using the THD Hot Plates?

"Yes! I don't go anywhere without them. At the moment, I'm trying to get one fitted into my cat - noisy little fucker."

How about your pedalboard - is it more minimal than in past years?

"I haven't got a wah in it anymore. I've got one of those old Echodrive pedals, which is turned on all the time to give the amps a bit of a boost. I've got a few Boss digital delays and a tremolo pedal. But since I'm not playing lead, I haven't got many things with me.

"I did buy a buy a new pedal that I like a lot: it's a Strymon TimeLine delay, and it's fucking amazing. The thing's got, like, 200 presets, and some of them sound exactly like Pink Floyd. They're hard to come by, though. They made like 50 of them or something, and I think there's a six-month waiting list to get one. I've got two!" 

You don't go in for amp modeling software, right?

"God, no! No, no, no. I don't even know how to work a four-track. I don't know shit about any of that."

On a different technological note, however, you have said you've gotten into iTunes recently.

"Yes, and I've spent a fucking fortune."

Of course, with iTunes people can sequence albums any way they choose.

"Yeah. That's bullshit. My record is perfect. I don't need no spotty youth fucking with that."

But what would you say to somebody who rearranges High Flying Birds?

"Buy the album or fuck off! Somebody changes my record, I'm gonna fuck with their shit. I'll go to their house and change the numbers on their front door so they don't get any fucking mail. And then I'll steal their pets. Then I'll kidnap their fucking children - see how they like it. Little fuckers."

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In this installment of our signature artist guitar chords series we're focussing on one of the most famous guitar players in the world right now, who also happens to be an incredibly gifted one too. We're honing in on chords that John Mayer uses to enhance some of the greatest songs in his catalogue. 

And like Jimi Hendrix before him, John Mayer is not averse to bringing his thumb in for chord fretting duties.

E Maj9

This particular chord voicing features in the track No Such Thing. John makes use of the open E string, placing the root note an octave below its usual spot at the 12th fret. You can also try alternating between this chord and an A Maj9 by moving the whole shape up one string, then adding your 2nd finger to 12th fret to compensate for the tuning.

B add11

John Mayer often uses his thumb to fret the 6th string, which has a different sound to the 1st finger barre technique. As well as fretting the note, gently touch your thumb against the 5th string in order to keep it muted; this will allow you to strum across all the strings. This chord shows up in ‘Slow Dancing in a Burning Room’ and the open E string adds a colourful ‘11th’ interval to what is otherwise a standard B triad.

D/F#

John’s rhythm style is very much influenced by Jimi Hendrix and this chord from Waiting On The World To Change is a cool example of a Hendrix inversion which brings to mind The Wind Cries Mary. In this shape the major 3rd of the chord is the lowest note, which makes it a 1st inversion. 

Add some extra classiness by extending your 1st finger barre to the 5th string and hammering on with your 3rd finger as soon as you strum.

Dmaj7

This chord shape works well in ballads such as Gravity and features the thumb over the top of the neck, fretting the root note. You may need to experiment with a more blues rock hand angle to become comfortable with this as a straight handed ‘classical’ position will probably feel unnatural. 

You can keep your 1st finger on the 3rd fret throughout, and use 4th finger to hammer-on to the 5th fret, adding Major 6 interval to the G triad sound.

• Learn 4 John Frusciante guitar chords

John Lennon's iconic status as a result of his songwriting means his work will remain part of pop culture forever. 

Regardless of whether you think he’s a genius or not, his primitive and driving rhythm style took '50s rock n' roll sensibilities and put them into the mainstream for a new generation. He then helped The Beatles transcend pop and open the possibilities of studio recording for bands. 

At his musical core, John Lennon had a wonderful way with chords. In this lesson we’re going to look at four, with rhythm ideas from The Beatles that will give your own playing an instant John Lennon flavour.

1. Partial minor barre chord

With a two-guitar lineup in The Beatles, Lennon was often seen to play partial or alternate chord voicings to compliment George Harrison.

This four-string minor barre chord, as heard in the frantic stumming of All My Loving is a great example of how playing a smaller chord voicing can free up space for other instruments in the mix, especially when strummed fast.

2. THAT infamous Hard Days Night chord

Now this is a hotly debated chord. Is it a Dsus4? Did it have a G in the bass? There are many variables here. 

It is fairly well accepted that Lennon played this Fadd9 shape with the open A string and his thumb playing the low F. George Harrison played another add9 variation, which Paul McCartney and producer George Martin also added their sonic stamp to this infamous chord.

3. The Minor IV concept

This is not so much a song specific chord, but more of a concept. If you’re writing a chord progression and you want to add some Lennon flavour, throw in a minor variation on your 4 chord.

If you’re doing a 1 4 5 in A, you’d be using A, D and E. Play that progression and throw a Dm on the end. The minor 4 chord is not in the key, but provides a Lennon-esque resolution back to the root.

4. Driving Blues Groove

It’s hard to avoid the fact that The Beatles were early pioneers of hard rock. Tracks like Come Together and Get Back feature a rock-solid, bluesy stomp laid down by Lennon.

This is your basic 12-bar blues style shuffle but played a little straighter.

• John Lennon and George Harrison: 10 guitar lessons you can learn from their Beatles era

When learning how to play the guitar it’s very easy to focus on riffs and techniques, but one thing that can easily get overlooked is learning more advanced chord styles.

Many classic songs use chords that sit outside of the regular shapes that we learn in the early stages of playing. In some cases more complex chords can define the sound of a specific song, or become the trademark sound of that guitar player or their band.

In this lesson we’re going to learn nine iconic chords from classic songs, including a few that have been hotly debated over the years.

1. Em/Maj9 – The Bond Chord (Vic Flick)

If you’ve ever seen a James Bond film, you might recognise this chord as being the closing chord of the main theme tune.

This was played by session guitarist Vic Flick and has become a huge part of the sound synonymous with spy movies. 

This chord is an Em/Maj9, which is a lot easier to play than its name suggests and may leave you stirred by not shaken. The chord is played with all four fingers starting with your index finger on the 7th fret of the B and ending with the little finger on the 10th fret of the A. 

2. Fadd9 – A Hard Day's Night (The Beatles)

Many people have argued various offerings as to what the famous clattering chord sound is at the start of the Fab Four's A Hard Day's Night.

The chord is an Fadd9 chord, but the original was played on a 12-string guitar.

If you don’t have a 12-string, you can still play this chord. You need to play an F chord using the Hendrix-style shape with your thumb playing the root note. Once in this position, you will have your little finger free to play the 3rd fret of the high E string.

3. E7/G# - Don’t Look Back in Anger (Oasis)

Another chord that has been debated for a long time is the E7/G# chord Noel Gallagher plays in the pre-chorus of Don’t Look Back in Anger. 

Many guitar players have played this as a regular E7 shape and used their little finger to reach up to the G# on the low E string. However, Noel recently put an end to this debate by showing exactly how he plays this chord.

This is a fairly unusual voicing, he plays the G# on the 4th fret of the low E, and the 4th fret on the G. The other strings are all played open, except for the A which is muted by the underside of the finger playing the low E string. 

4. E7#9 – the Hendrix chord

This chord is one of the many key characteristics of Jimi Hendrix’s guitar style. If you talk about his chord work you will always come up against two topics. His ability to play rhythm with lead lines inside it, and the Hendrix Chord.

This chord is an E7#9 and while this chord can be moved around, Hendrix typically played it in E to he could add the open Low E string for some vibe as seen in Purple Haze.

• Learn the ultimate Jimi Hendrix rhythm guitar chord lesson

Dadd9no5 – Mr Brightside (The Killers)

Dave Keuning's chord has driven guitar players crazy for almost 20 years – especially anyone who has ever played in a covers band where this song is non-negotiable. The chord that opens this riff has many challenges. Instead of this being a regular D9 chord, it’s played an octave higher and the 5th interval has been removed.

The chord starts at the 17th fret of the A string which already makes it tricky because of the spacing. You’ve also got to play the high E string open, and use your little finger to reach over everything else and play a note an octave higher than the root on the G.

Take your time with this one and focus on your wrist positioning to ensure you can reach over every string without muting anything.

Easy… right?

6. CaugMaj7/G# – Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin)

Yet another highly debated chord is the second chord in Stairway To Heaven. The opening chord is an Amin and the third chord is a C, but what about this mystery chord in the middle.

There are many different ideas and theories about this. Some players have called it by other names based on their interpretation of the key or interval makeup, some players have just accepted that it’s a passing chord, some accept it was a happy accident.

The most theoretically correct idea is that it’s a CaugMaj7/G#. That means it’s a Cmaj7 chord, with an augmented 5th and a G# in the bass. All the notes of the chord fit this theory.

This chord could also be thought of as:

• AbAug – Think of the G# as an Ab and consider the B a passing note
• Am/G# - This is viewing the chord as still being Amin but with a G# moving chromatically and a B passing note
• E/G# - This could be seen as an E chord with the C note being a sus2 from the previous chord.

These are just some of the theories about this chord. If you have your own, let me know in the comments of the YouTube video!

7. C#add9 – Message in a Bottle (The Police)

This three-note chord, alongside generous use of a flanger pedal (Summers calls it a chorus), pretty much defined the sound of Andy Summers and The Police. This chord appears in hits including Message In A Bottle and Every Breath You Take.

It's a transposable chord, meaning you can root it anywhere along the Low E or A strings and use it in the same way.

In the track Message In A Bottle you see this chord moved to four different positions.

The shape is like a power chord with an extra note added by your little finger. It’s a big stretch so go slow when working on this one.

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8. G#sus4/E - Lenny

Stevie Ray Vaughan was known for his ferocious Texas blues playing style and his driving rhythms, but he also had a softer side as showcased in the track Lenny. This song is full of emotive guitar playing and subtle phrasing tricks.

The song is based around a repeated chord that outlines the main melody section, and that chord is a G#sus4/E. This chord could be simplified into a G#sus4, but the E note that Stevie adds on the A string just adds an extra depth to the chord. He also uses the open Low E to outline the key before playing the chord.

Once you have the basic G#sus4 chord in place, move your wrist and thumb positions to find the optimum angle to reach over for the E note on the A string.

• Guitar lesson: 5 ways to play like Stevie Ray Vaughan

9. D#add9 – Purple Rain

Purple Rain is jam packed full of fantastic chords but one that stands out is the chord that ends the introduction progression. This is a big stretch and requires some work to get your fingers into position. The chord in question is the D#add9. 

You’ve already learnt the basics of an add9 from the Police example, but this is now a full chord. 

Start with a D#7 barre chord, but learn to do this with your index finger barring and your second and third fingers playing the fretted notes. Once you can do this, add your little finger onto that 9th note (In this case, the 10th fret of the G) but be careful not to mute any other strings as you stretch over.

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A great way to get started writing a song is to use a well-known chord progression. Certain progressions have been used thousands of times throughout the history of recorded music, so there’s no reason you shouldn’t use these three popular examples. It might feel like cheating at first, but, once you get started, inspiration will strike and you can head off into more creative uncharted territory. 

We’ve tabbed out three chord progressions for you to try out here. Of course, experimentation is the name of the game, so use these as springboards for your own ideas.

Chord progression numbers explained 

Sometimes chord progressions are referred to by numbers and this can make talking about music sound complicated. It actually just means that chords are built on a certain note of the major scale. 

For example, G-C-D is a ‘I-IV-V’ (one-four-five) progression in the key of G because G, C and D are the fi rst, fourth and fifth notes of the G major scale (G A B C D E F#). These chords are usually written in Roman numerals, and if the chord is minor it's usually written IIm, VIm and so on. 

Blues and rock standard 

This progression is the classic I-IV-V chord run at the heart of countless rock and blues songs – and many other styles too. Try the same idea with A7-D7-E7 or E7-A7-B7.

50s sound

This progression gained popularity in the 50s and 60s, appearing in many pop songs and jazz standards of the time. You can use it in other styles though, so jam around the progression and make sure to add your own ideas.

Minor blues 

This sequence is essentially a I-IV-V, but with two minor chords and one dominant 7th.

Try using Em7 instead of E7 – you’ll should hear how Em7 still works but the E7 ‘pulls’ the sequence back to the start more strongly.

Learn the 3-chord trick that's behind thousands of songs

Andy Summers' work with The Police is not the stuff on a conventional rock guitar hero. Schooled in jazz, Andy’s unique style and signature voice is founded on his use of interesting chords. In this lesson we’re going to check out four kinds of chords that will instantly add some Andy Summers magic to your guitar playing.

Add9 power chords 

This is probably the Andy Summers signature chord shape. This is the chord that most players associate with Summers’ style.

As the name suggests, an Add9 power chord is a power chord with an additional 9th note added at the top, creating an Add9. On paper, it looks like two power chords stacked on top of each other. You can root these from the E or A string.

Major and minor four-string Add9 chords

If you wish to extend the Add9 idea a little further, as Andy often does, you can choose to add a major or a minor 3rd at the top to give you major or minor add9 chords.

These add an extra level of harmonic complexity to the chord sound. Think of them as dominant 7 or Minor 7chords with the b7 switched for a 9. Andy can often be heard arpeggiating these.

Reggae chords

Andy often took a reggae approach to guitar playing and would play chord fragments, leaving the lower notes to the rhythm section.

These fragments can be applied to any chord type, but here are some examples of a major and minor chords that he would use.

7sus4 chords

The 7sus4 is a chord that all you Police fans might recognise as the Walking On The Moon chord. This is a Dominant 7 chord with the major 3rd raised to a 4. Summers would often switch out the bass note to leave space for the bass guitar. 

In the track Walking On The Moon he plays a G7sus4/D, the G note is the highest note of the chord.

• "That guitar chord Andy came up with was just mind-blowing”: How The Police taught the ultimate lesson of less-is-more on Walking On The Moon… but reportedly without the flanger pedal we all assumed

Bob Dylan has rightly carved out his place at one of the most influential songwriters of the last 50 years. If you’re a fan of his work or not, you can escape the fact that he has written some incredible songs that have even taken on lives of their own in the hands of other artists.

His approach to songwriting is often simple, with the story usually the key focus. But underneath his masterful lyricism, he does use some great chords. In this lesson we’re going to check out some choice examples from his back catalogue that you'll hopefully be inspired by.

Csus4

The Csus4 is a great chord when paired with a regular C. It allows you to move your little finger on and off the sus4 note (The 3rd fret of the D) which creates movement in the sound.

This particular example is drawn from the track Desolation Row. In the studio recording, Dylan is actually tuned to standard with the low E tuned down to C and he is playing the low C as a drone, but you can apply this to a regular C major chord in standard tuning.

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Dadd4

In the verse of the track It Ain’t Me Babe, Dylan uses the Dadd4 chord. This is a really interesting substitution for a regular D Major chord. It still has the D major triad present, but with the addition of the 4th note.

This is also very easy to play, it takes the form of a C Major chord, but you shift it up 2 frets, retaining the same open strings.

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F/C

This next idea features heavily in the track I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine, but the concept is a great one to take away and use elsewhere in your playing.

During this track, Dylan leans on a few chords where he extends the chord lower by adding the fifth in the bass, giving the chord an alternate voicing. These voicings still give you the chord you expect, but the 5th in the bass tricks the mind into hearing something more interesting.

D (Drop D)

Bob Dylan often used alternate tunings to create new and interesting sounds with his chords, this really easy take on the D Major chord comes from the track Mr Tambourine Man. The guitar is tuned to Drop D for this.

This gives you the regular D Major chord, with the lower 5th and root in the bass.

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Popularised by Davey Graham, John Renbourn, Jimmy Page, Pierre Bensusan and, in more recent years, Newton Faulkner and Ed Sheeran, DADGAD is a great tuning for acoustic guitar. These chords should give you a good start at figuring out how the tuning works. Simply tune your guitar as pictured above to start – it's really useful to have a headstock tuner handy to help with this. 

You’ll be changing your standard tuned guitar’s strings (E, A, D, G, B and E notes from the lowest note to the highest) to D, A, D, G, A and D.

Though fully fretted chords are possible and well worth exploring, it is ringing open shapes like these that give the most distinctive sound… 

D5

D

Gadd9/D

Em11

Asus2

If you want to explore DADGAD further, check out our video tutorial for some more tips…

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I’ve always liked that sound, especially the fourth [pickup position on a Strat]. When I was a kid, that was my favourite sound on the guitar; it’s even, it’s smooth, it has chimeyness but it still has bass. It’s the most colourful selection on the Strat." So said John Mayer to us back in 2010, and that leads us to what he considers to be the perfect accompaniment for that kind of go-to tone.

“Sort of in the centre of the fretboard… the one, the two and the five. I think that’s sort of my signature," he says of the three-note inversions that form a key part of some of his most popular songs.  

These triads (three-note chords) above are the kind of approach Mayer is talking about. And there is a slight ambiguity to them at times; a sus2 is neither major nor minor and an Emaj7 could be seen as a C#m9 if played over a C# root.

Whatever mood you're hearing, they'll sound great with a clean tone. 

• Revisiting the John Mayer pentatonic guitar lesson with new notation 

American rock group Steely Dan have trodden a few different genre lines in their career – they almost became their own genre – but one thing that remains constant in their sound is their highly sophisticated use of chords and chord inversions.

Instead of just sticking to conventional chord shapes, late guitar (and bass) player, co-founder Walter Becker preferred to use different inversions to place guitar in the track in a different way, when paired with lead vocalist Donald Fagen’s keyboard work and a host of session aces that the band hired over the years.

In this lesson we’re going to dig into four key chords that shaped the band’s sound.

The Mu major chord

This chord is known as the chord when it comes to Steely Dan's sound. The chord itself is not that difficult, it’s a major chord with an added 2nd note. You could also refer to it as being an add2 chord. It can also be written as the 'µ' chord.

This is an idea you can apply to any chord, just work out the notes of the major triad and then add the 2nd from that chords major scale.

Here is an example of an open position G mu major, and a transposable A mu Major barre chord.

This chord type can be heard in a range of their big hits including Reelin’ In the Years.

4-string Major 7

A big part of the Steely Dan guitar chord sound is the interplay between the guitar and keyboards. As a result of this, the guitar parts are often played with slightly different chord inversions, or a reduced number of notes played to free up space for the keys.

This 4 string take on a Major 7 barre chord can be heard through the verse of the track Peg.

It removes the 5th, leaving you with only 4 notes.

G6/B

The track Deacon Blue is jam packed full of fantastic chord inversions and voicings, and this G6/B is just one of them. This is a G Major chord with an added 6th interval. 

This chord has a very strong Jazz leaning but outside of the Steely Dan context would also make a great funk chord. 

Dno5

This is a really simple chord that features prominently in the track Any Major Dude Will Tell You. This simple three note chord is actually a D Major dyad. It’s the D note played twice, one octave apart, and the major 3rd of the chord.

The removal of the 5th is a trait we’ve seen in other Steely Dan chords too, most likely to free up some sonic space for other instruments to cover that note.

• 5 songs you need to hear by Steely Dan

With some basic guitar chords (C, A, G, E, D for example, plus some minor versions such as Am, Em and Dm) under your belt, you can easily reach new heights in your guitar playing by learning a few of the shapes shown here.

Most are variations on basic shapes, so memorising them shouldn’t be a problem, and many are actually easier to play than the ‘beginner’ chords they’re based on.

Of course, the idea is to experiment with new sounds, so these tab examples showcase the different musical moods you can create. Try out the chords, have a go at the tab, then it’s over to you to use some of our ideas in your own chord progressions.

1. Majorly chilled

Major 7 chords have a chilled-out and relaxed vibe which we’re exploring here in a rhythm idea that calls to mind '70s acoustic rockers such as Eagles and Bread.

Of course, most music won’t stay strictly on one kind of chord, so, once you’ve had a go at the tab, try making up your own progressions mixing major 7s with basic major and minor chords.

Look at the tab and you’ll see that Cmaj7 and Fmaj7 resemble those C and F shapes you probably already know.

2. Wondrous chords

Thanks to Wonderwall, this chord trick is often attributed to Oasis but these shapes have been around far longer. Perhaps these chords do evoke the '90s, though – Alice In Chains and Smashing Pumpkins both used this approach in well-loved songs (Nutshell and Disarm) after all.

There’s nothing difficult, technically. You just have to hold down the first and second strings at the third fret in every chord. Sharing notes like this makes the chords link together sonically.

3. Sus-penseful sounds

Don’t worry about how ‘sus chords’ get their names. The sound is what’s important.

You probably already know that major chords sound bright and happy, and minor chords sound dark and sad. By contrast, sus chords sound neutral, but slightly unstable, as though they want to change.

Most sus chords are placed around major or minor chords – as we’ve done here. Check out Led Zeppelin’s songs Thank You and Tangerine for a major and a minor example.

4. Bananas for blues

Chords like E7 and A7 are staple blues sounds, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t used in other genres, too. Jack Johnson takes a contemporary folk approach in Banana Pancakes and Sitting, Waiting, Wishing, mixing bluesy ‘7’ chords with major and minor shapes.

We’ve stuck to ‘7’ chords here so you can hear the edgy sound these chords produce. There are three different shapes – practice the shapes and the changes before piecing the progression together.

5. Whiter shades of chords

Click top right of tab for full screen

The idea here is to use chords to play a bassline, and we’re emphasising the idea by picking a bass note before each chord.

Chords with a ‘/’ mark (known as ‘slash chords’) are the key: these are chords with a different root note; for example, D/F# is a D chord with F# as its bass note.

Runaway Train by Soul Asylum is a great example, or, alternatively, listen to how the keyboards in Procul Harum’s A Whiter Shade Of Pale do the same job.

• Barre chords are a great way to play nearly all the chords you need: here's how to play them better

You don't need to know many guitar scales to play guitar solos – but you do need to know this one. The minor pentatonic is good enough for players including Angus Young, Slash, Eric Clapton, Jack White and Zakk Wylde so it;s good enough for us!

And if the idea of learning a scale is off-putting, step this way – we can do it through chord shapes. In fact, the three easy shapes we're going to look at are here almost identical to open chords you’ve probably already worked out.

1. C major pentatonic scale 

You hopefully already know the C chord Just press down on the strings with your first, second and third fingers where the dots show you, then strum the top five strings!

Unlike chords, scales are played one note at a time. You should be able to see that the C major pentatonic scale uses all the notes from a C chord, plus a couple of extras.

Play through the chord and scale before attempting this Keith Richards-inspired C major pentatonic line. After that, try making up your own lick using notes taken from the scale.

E minor pentatonic scale 

Em is another common chord that any beginner will know. Just press down on the relevant strings with your second and third fingers, then strum all six strings.

Just as with the C chord, Em is almost identical to a scale, this time the E minor pentatonic scale. The notes of the scale always sound good over an Em chord.

The challenge with any scale-based lick is the quick note to note changes. Use your second finger for all of the 2nd fret notes in this lick. It’ll help you keep position shifts to a minimum.

A minor pentatonic scale 

This is an Am barre chord – it’s more advanced than what we’ve looked at so far. Use your first finger to press down on all six strings. Third and fourth fingers are also used.

Again, see if you can spot the chord shape ‘hidden’ within the notes of the scale. It’s because the chord and scale share so many notes they always sound good played together.

There’s a classic rock vibe here – think AC/DC, Thin Lizzy and so on. Unlike our previous backing tracks, the music doesn’t stick to one chord, so there’s a more sophisticated sound.

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Move away from the comfort of open chords and find creative freedom by learning how to play all over the fretboard with our guide to nailing essential barre chord techniques.

Moving chord shapes around the fretboard is the key to achieving total creative freedom in your riffs and songs. It doesn’t matter what kind of music you’re into - this special kind of moveable shape is found in all guitar styles.

Known as a ‘barre chord’, the idea is to use one finger to play two or more strings at the same fret and it’s a great way to play nearly all the chords you need.

Start by playing an open E chord with your second, third and fourth fingers, then slide the shape up one fret; this leaves your first finger free to barre across the 1st fret - producing an F chord in the process. Simply move this barre chord up one fret at a time to produce F#, G, G# and so on.

Barre chords need strength, so these musical ideas will help you build up gradually, starting on two-string shapes and progressing up to full six-string examples.

Hard rock style two-note shapes

Master the hard rock rhythm style of Sunset Strip bands such as Guns N’ Roses and Mötley Crüe with these simple two-string barre chord shapes. Using your first finger for the 5th fret barre puts you in position to play each subsequent fret with another finger. Use a tight, controlled picking motion to help keep the idle strings silent.

Grungy arpeggios

There’s a grungy Pearl Jam vibe here, but arpeggios like these extensions to a basic open A chord crop up in most musical styles, from rock to indie and folk. Use your first finger to barre across the 2nd fret and use your remaining digits to play the higher melody notes on the second string.

Funky muting

Barre chords are a key part of funk and disco because a simple ‘lift off’ technique with your fret hand allows you to mute all of the strings - perfect for those momentary rhythmic pauses and for chunky ‘dead string’ percussive sounds. Make sure to use fret-hand muting wherever you see a rest in the notation - your guitar should be silent.

Fat alt-rock chords

This alt-rock rhythm part uses a barre chord based on the open E shape. Simply play the E shape with your second, third and fourth fingers so your first finger can play the barre. Keep your first finger close to the fret and in line with it. Your thumb should be in the middle of the neck, opposite your first or second finger for maximum strength.

Practice Plan

1. One minute: Choose one riff and practise the changes, checking each fretted note sounds clean as you go
2. One minute: Play the riff slowly (ideally with a metronome) at a speed you can manage without mistakes 
3. One minute: Increase the tempo slightly (5bpm at a time is good) and repeat
4. Two minutes: Play the riff up to speed with the audio track

Producing clean, even-sounding barres can take time so be prepared to go through a period of trial and error. This may involve making small changes to the angle of your barring finger or the position of your thumb on the back of the neck. After some experiment you will eventually arrive at a comfortable barring technique that works for you.

• More guitar chord lessons

The late Tom Petty is an iconic artist known for his anthemic songwriting and simplistic, less-is-more approach. What you won’t find inside of a Tom Petty song is crazy time signatures, over-complicated riffs and jazzy chord extensions.

Petty and the Heartbreakers – that also featured fellow guitarist Mike Campbell –  preferred to keep things a little simpler and let the song do the talking, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t cool chord tricks in his catalogue.

In this lesson we’re going to check out four chords from his classic songs that you can use to get some Tom Petty vibes into your playing.

E and D – using a capo for a 12-string vibe

This first trick is something you hear in the Full Moon Fever hit Free Fallin’, the chords themselves are actually simple chords, but when played in two different capo positions at the same time, create a 12-string-esque sound.

The E Major chord is played with a capo on the first fret, making it an F Major. The D Major is played with a capo on the 3rd fret, also making it an F Major.

Combining these two voicings of the same chord give it a rich, 12-string sound. Worth considering when you're playing with a second guitarist.

B7/A

In the track Here Comes My Girl from 1979 you hear this chord, which is in essence just a B7 chord, but with the notes stacked in a different order creating the inversion B7/A. The A note is the b7 interval that makes this a dominant 7 chord, but in this instance it is placed in the bass of the chord.

In the song it shifts between A and this B7/A chord but the open A string creates a drone between the two chords. Even though the chord changes, the A note ties the two together.

EmMaj7

Tom Petty often doesn’t gravitate towards too many unusual chords, but in the track Into The Great Wide Open you hear the EmMaj7 chord. This is an E Minor chord with a maj7 interval added. 

This is an unusual sounding chord when played in isolation, but in the track it’s used between other E minor variations to create a sense of movement in the progression.

Fadd9

In the sublime title track from 1994 solo album Wildflowers, the first chord you hear is this Fadd9. This is an F Major triad with a G note on the top, which is the add9 note.

The add9 chord adds a slight tension to a progression. The 9 interval that gets added is the same as the 2 interval (in this case a G) but played an octave higher. This creates a sus2 tension feel but with the resolve of a major chord as well. It’s a great chord to switch out for a regular major chord if you want a little added tension.

• 5 songs you need to hear by Tom Petty

Tired of using the same old shapes for your acoustic or electric guitar blues jams or even songwriting? These 10 chords could help. 

Here we’re looking at some variations on basic ‘7’ chords (E7, A7 and so on). The more sophisticated sound of these chords will take you way beyond basic blues and closer to jazz-blues.

Our examples are based on a B root note but they are all moveable shapes so playing them in different positions on the fretboard changes the pitch but keeps the chord type the same. For example B9 played one fret higher is C9. B9 played one fret lower becomes Bb9.

B7/A

B9

B9

B9/A

B9/A

B11/A

B9/D#

B13/A

B13/D#

B7#9b13

• Make jamming easier with this 12-bar blues chord generator

Kick your blues jam sessions off with these essential open-position and moveable chord shapes.

1. A7 (open)

To avoid sounding the idle sixth string when you play this chord, bring your thumb around the back of the neck so that the tip of it just touches the string.

2. A7 (moveable)

This is a useful blues shape that can easily be moved around the fretboard. Flatten your first finger across the top four strings and mute the idle fifth string.

3. C7 (open)

Thanks to the low 3rd interval on the fourth string this chord sounds a little more complex than the previous shapes.

4. C7 (moveable)

This extremely versatile five-string barre chord can be easily moved around the neck into other keys. Make sure you’ve got it down!

5. G7 (open)

This full-sounding chord is great for playing in the keys of G, C and D. Think of it as a spread out open C shape and you will have no problem remembering it.

6. G7 (moveable)

This indispensable six-string barre requires strong fingers, but it’s worth persevering because it’s an essential shape for playing a blues rhythm.

7. E7 (open)

If there’s a single chord here that screams ‘blues’ then this is it! The most resonant dominant chord you can play on the guitar and very easy to play.

8. E7 (moveable)

This is the moveable variant of the open C7 shape. It’s important to ensure the open sixth string is muted with your third finger.

9. D7 (open)

The absence of doubled notes in this chord gives it a tight, concise sound. Bring your thumb around the back of the neck to damp the open fifth and sixth strings.

10. D#dim (moveable)

The diminished chord sounds cool in blues so it is a handy chord to have in your vocabulary. Use it in passing, rather than staying on it.

11. B7 (open)

This is another chord that seems to have an extra helping of blues attitude! Use the side of your second finger to keep that open sixth string quiet.

12. B7 (moveable)

This is similar to the moveable G7 shape, but with the fourth finger added on the second string. This note is a ‘doubled 7th’ giving a sharper, more dissonant sound.

13. E9 (open)

Don’t be afraid to experiment with 9th chords; they can be readily substituted for 7th chords (E7 etc) and will add depth and sophistication to your playing.

14. E9 (moveable) 

This cool, funky chord (think James Brown!) always sounds good when played as the IV chord in any blues progression.

15. E7#9

The ubiquitous ‘Hendrix chord’ has an esteemed place in blues, jazz and rock. It can give a Stevie Ray Vaughan vibe and makes for a great turnaround on a V chord.

• Check out these 10 next-level blues guitar chords

While clocking up a hugely diverse catalogue of albums, Radiohead have retained a level of musicianship and melodic knowhow that’s ensured they’ve remained peerless throughout their lengthy career.

The band’s cunning use of passing notes, inversions and slash chords have built up a formidable library of voicings that will have you reassessing your approach to chordal playing, and are sure to inspire a new song or two.

Each and every one is catalogued in the exhaustive Radiohead Complete songbook, which features every song the band has ever officially released - right up to A Moon Shaped Pool, Spectre and OK Computer’s 20th Anniversary tracks. 

Before we dive in, we’ll point out that the voicings used are sometimes condensed versions of chords used by Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Ed O’Brien, and are designed to sound good on one guitar - and, of course, a few of these are piano transcribed to guitar, too.

So, without further ado, here are 20 of our favourite chords from the band’s extensive discography - read on and be inspired…

Radiohead Complete is published by Faber Music, and available to buy online.

1. Aadd#11

Song: Planet Telex
This chord, taken from The Bends’ opening track, appears at the end of each verse cycle, alternated with a regular A. It creates a sense of suspense in the build-up to the chorus.

2. Dmaj9/F#

Song: Fake Plastic Trees
An early example of Thom Yorke’s knack for freezing notes up top while changing the bass underneath, this one appears in the song’s verse, preceded by A.

3. B11/F#

Song: (Nice Dream)
Discordant and uneasy, this is one of (Nice Dream)’s closing chords - you’ll hear it on Thom’s fourth ‘nice dream’ in the final chorus. It showcases a cunning use of open strings to provide ambiguity.

4. Abmaj7

Song: Talk Show Host
On the track, this chord is arpeggiated on keyboard, but transcribed onto guitar (with the added Ab on the low E string), it makes for a beautiful voicing.

5. Dm6/9/A

Song: Airbag
This composite chord appears underneath Jonny Greenwood’s opening riff - shift it down a fret and it becomes a tasty A(add9).

6. Dm(add9)/F

Song: Paranoid Android
This sinister number is the middle chord of this OK Computer anthem’s chorus, sandwiched between a Gm6 and E7.

7. Aadd4/C#

Song: Let Down
The first chord from Let Down is a bit of a finger-twister. Change the top note from the 5th down to 0 then the 4th fret to replicate the fragile opening refrain.

8. Am(add9)

Song: Karma Police
In the song’s verses, every second Am is this fruity extended version.

9. Gm6

Song: No Surprises
Pair this with a D major chord and you’ve got the basis of the rhythm part for the song’s eerie main hook - this is also the chord you’ll need for the chorus of Paranoid Android.

10. Dbmaj7(#11)

Song: Everything In Its Right Place
Thom Yorke opens Kid A with a C before hitting this exotic number, then landing on a Cm/Eb.

11. E(add9)

Song: Pyramid Song
Halfway through the verse, Thom pulls out this dreamy add9 - it’s a beauty on guitar, too.

12. C(add4)/E

Song: 2 + 2 = 5
You’ll need to tune to drop D and get your arpeggiation on for this one, which follows a common-or-garden Fm in the track’s intro.

Pairing a ‘regular’ chord with something slightly more unnerving is a Radiohead trademark.

13. Cmaj9(#11)

Song: All I Need
You’ll find this chord in All I Need’s tumultuous outro, where the notes up top stay the same, and the lower C cycles to an E, then a G.

14. G#m(b6)

Song: Reckoner
After Thom sings ‘Because we separate like ripples on a blank shore’ (lovely line, that), you’ll hear this bona fide stunner. Good use of the open E string there.

15. Dm11

Song: Bloom
This chord is a smart amalgamation of Ed’s guitar playing on the track, as well as its background loops.

16. Cadd9#4

Song: Codex
You can just about make this out following the track’s third verse. Again, it’s a Thom-tinkling-ivories special transcribed to guitar, and it’s just lovely.

17. C(#9)

Song: The Daily Mail
More evidence of the brilliance of piano chords transcribed to guitar comes courtesy of The Daily Mail, of all things.

Slide that 3-2-0 up to 4-3-1 (keeping the Eb on the B string the same) for a Dbadd9, before resolving to a standard Eb barre, and you’ve got yourself half the chorus.

18. F#6/9

Song: Burn The Witch
There’s not much guitar on A Moon Shaped Pool’s opener, but you can console yourself with this outrageously ambiguous chord, composed of the string section’s opening stabs.

19. Fmaj13

Song: Daydreaming
The opening piano refrain of this one is proper jaw-dropping, as is this chord, which essentially takes an A(sus4) and sticks an F underneath. In fact, switch that lower F out for an A, and you’ve got the crux of Thom’s piano line.

20. Abmaj7(#11)

Song: True Love Waits
Radiohead songs don’t get much more beautiful than this. The second and third verses feature this melancholy heartstring-tugger, preceded by Cmaj7 and Am7.